On my usual rants about Anime not airing in Australia AT ALL, I forgot to mention that the Studio Ghibli line was excluded from this.

Today is Christmas Day in Australia (2:00am Christmas Day, but Christmas Day nevertheless), and tonight, the Oscar Award winning Anime film, Spirited Away, is being shown at 9:30pm on SBS. I do not know whether it’ll be dubbed or subbed, as both have been shown before.

Or you could watch crappy Christmas Movies on the other stations.

 I’ve always enjoyed making lists, so this is the first of many to come.  I’ve hardly seen all of the films I would like to that were released over the last ten years, but as of now this is where my top 10 stands.  Feel free to comment with your own list.

1.  THERE WILL BE BLOOD

2.  SPIRITED AWAY

3.  THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY

4.  THE BEST OF YOUTH

 5.  AMELIE

6.  DANCER IN THE DARK

7.  THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE

8.  THE DEPARTED

9.  THE DARK KNIGHT

10.  4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS

Honorable mention:  The Room (One of the most enjoyably bad movies I’ve ever seen)

As I sit here grinding levels and job experience in Dragon Quest 7 because I can’t beat this stupid boss, I will recount my recent experience watching Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, and my change of attitude towards Miyazaki.

For a long time I have disregarded Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli because of their animation style and being hailed as a Japanese Walt Disney of sorts too made me shy away. This year I’ve swallowed my pride and have been gradually watching Ghibli films, but in no particular order. I plan on watching Nausicaa next. So, please stop bugging me about that. The first film I watched was during my stay in Japan. Hailed as a classic by most girls I talked to, and I saw merchandise mostly everywhere for it. It was My Neighbor Totoro. Not really my cup of tea, but I could see why Japan, anime fans, and just moviegoers in general liked it. But it wasn’t until I saw Howl’s Moving Castle just a few weeks ago where I was completely blown away. I got really into the story, characters, setting and the themes the story presented were excellent. A very whimsical and fun watch even for a 22 year old moeblob anime fan such as myself.

And now just a few days before my graduation, I watched Spirited Away. Once again I was completely blown away, and the themes and subject matter hit home for me, a college student about to graduate. I found this ironic because I knew absolutely nothing about its plot. Except for a small article I had to read in Japanese class while in Japan about Miyazaki. It had said something like he believes children are too soft, rude and spoiled. They aren’t as adventurous as they used to be. Those are the kinds of things he wanted to show in Spirited Away.

After watching Spirited Away, I would never compare Miyazaki to Walt Disney, a man who made stories that have deluded tons of American children and turned them into furries. Maybe it’s too early for me to say since this is just my third Ghibli film but I feel Miyazaki doesn’t want to delude children or present female characters with a slim stomach and midriff with their prince charming waiting at the end. Miyazaki wants to convey a heartwarming story, but not without a personal struggle. Something which is lacking from many Disney films which just give a character some kind of magic item or whatever. Rubbish.

Granted, Disney movies are based off of fairy tales, and it’s been years since I last watched one. But what kinds of values do they teach? Love conquers all and you’ll always have friends? A far cry from Miyazaki’s independent female leads that grow into strong and confident characters with or without friends and love. It’s the struggle and hardships that forge them into this changed character at the end, which is very true to life. Very few Disney films do I remember the characters being very changed at the end. They might be more wealthy or get the girl, but very often do they change. One I can only think of is The Lion King which was pretty much a rip off of Hamlet and Kimba the White Lion as the rumors go. I find Miyazaki’s characters to be a greater role model for children than any Disney character.

Spirited Away struck a personal cord. Just released in summer 2001, I was still young and in high school. Either just going into my freshmen or sophomore year. I saw a lot of a younger me in Chihiro minus the emo/metal and depressed phase. But I was soft and spoiled. Maybe not rude but not confident. By the end of the film Chihiro, through all her experiences at the hot springs working, had grown into a stronger character. She had or was making that transition from childhood to adulthood. I feel the 8 years have been a lot like that for me as well as I progressed through school.

Overall I really loved the film. Great animation detail. Definitely this is how animation should be. The story was excellent but I felt it sort of lost momentum in the last 30 minutes. Excellent film that everyone should see. The kinds of values and themes presented in Spirited Away are things children should be exposed to. Miyazaki is definitely weaving modern fairy tales.

Studio Ghibli announced their next project…and it is all about tiny people…and more! The project is based on Mary Norton’s The Borrowers (Yukashita no Kobito-tachi) novel.

The official website for Studio Ghibli’s next project, an adaptation of Mary Norton’s The Borrowers (Yukashita no Kobito-tachi) novel, has launched on Thursday. Studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki has been planning the Karigurashi no Arrietty (The Borrower Arrietty) film since July of 2008, but as previously revealed by producer Toshio Suzuki, Miyazaki is not directing the next film. 36-year-old animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi is making his directorial debut with this project. The film will open in the summer of 2010.

The original, Carnegie Medal-winning 1952 novel revolves around the “little people” — 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) tall — who live underneath the floorboards of an English country house. (The Japanese title literally means “the little people under the floor.”) 14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items “borrowed” from the house’s human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty. Ghibli’s adaptation will transport the setting from 1950s England to the Tokyo neighborhood of Koganei in 2010.

Yonebayashi was an assistant animation director of Ghibli’s Gedo Senki, and he was an animation director on the Mei to Konekobasu theatrical short. He was also a key animator on Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, and Spirited Away. Yonebayashi joined Ghibli in 1996, but Miyazaki and fellow Ghibli founder Isao Takahata had been contemplating an adaptation of The Borrowers for about 40 years.

Cecile Corbel co-wrote and performed the theme song “Arriety’s Song.” The song will be available on December 19 from several Japanese music distribution services, including Apple’s iTunes Store.

The novel has already been adapted into live-action in English three times — in 1973, 1992, and 1997.

Source: Mainichi Mantan via ANN / Official website

The countdown continues.  We’re right in the middle of this thing and getting closer to counting down the top films of the ’00s. This entry represents the third tier, or those films that would be numbered 21 – 30.  I don’t really notice much of a theme to this group so there isn’t much else to say!  In order of (United States) release date:

21 – 30

• In the Bedroom (2001) – Todd Field wows with his feature film directorial debut.  A wrenching drama about loss and grief, yes, but also about one couple’s flawed relationship.  Beautifully filmed and directed, In the Bedroom is a layered narrative that reveals its characters all the way through to the conclusion.  Masterful performances from Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson.

• Spirited Away (2002) – Miyazaki’s brilliantly realized fantasy has shades of several other classic animated stories but never seems anything other than original, enchanting, mesmerizing.  An instant classic that doesn’t underestimate a child’s ability to understand complexities of life.  The ’00s gave us some excellent animation.  (There’s more in store as I continue counting down.)

• Vera Drake (2004) – Mike Leigh’s film looks at the topic of abortion, giving it complex consideration without pretending to know the answers or taking any moral high ground.  This is achieved by putting the focus on the humanity of the characters, not on the topic itself.  The film is anchored by Imelda Staunton’s knockout performance.

• Brokeback Mountain (2005) – An achingly beautiful epic about love, longing and loss.  The themes may be well tread, but with Ang Lee’s delicate touch Brokeback Mountain is both a universal story and a tale specific to its characters.  A gorgeous piece of cinema to look at with great performances from a young cast, especially the superb Ledger.

• Brand Upon the Brain! (2007) – My choice for best film made in the ’00s by Canadian auteur Guy Maddin.  In Maddin’s signature silent film fever dream style, Brand Upon the Brain! tells the sordid story of an orphanage in an island lighthouse.  The film was originally shown with live narration and live musical accompaniment by an orchestra and Foley artists.  I’m sure the theatrical release with recorded score and narration is a satisfying experience, but the live show added something special.

• Smiley Face (2007) – In a phallocentric genre (the stoner flick) dominated by cheap/gross out laughs, Gregg Araki’s Smiley Face feels like a long overdo…bong cleansing?  Anna Farris’ genius comedic acting shines in this film about one young woman’s very bad day.  Beneath its surface, the pic has some appropriately scrambled (but still discussion-worthy) ideas about politics and American life.

• The Dark Knight (2008) – Yes, it’s on my list.  Further proof that Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors working today, The Dark Knight set a new standard not just for the comic book genre, but for every genre of film that isn’t taken seriously.  An excellent story that relishes in the grayer, more ambiguous areas of the classic comic book struggle between good and bad.  Solid performances all around,  but the film belongs to Ledger’s Joker.

• Let the Right One In (2008) – Tomas Alfredson’s bittersweet drama captures the pain and awkwardness of adolescence in a romantic and sometimes scary way.  The horror is born out of the story and not vice-versa:  what matters here are the lead characters, played perfectly by two young actors.

• The Hurt Locker (2009) – To put it simply, Kathryn Bigelow’s film is the only relevant dramatization of the Iraq War to date.  The film captures what it means to be on the front lines and also what it means to return home, largely through William James, a superbly written character brought to life in a great performance by Jeremy Renner.

• The Maid (2009) – You can read my full review here.  An intense character study with undercurrents of class struggle, Sebastián Silva’s film surprises by not relying on the social underpinnings to drive the story and by creating a character whose transformation is utterly uplifting (and always believable) without being saccharine.  Catalina Saavedra is excellent.

#40. The Weather Man – 2005 (Dir. Gore Verbinski)

The Weather Man isn’t just a very well-crafted domestic drama, but also a very clever satire of our fast-food culture; where everything is mediocre, nutritionally void, and disposable. The movie thankfully, does not adhere to those same criteria. Steve Conrad’s script is bleak, truthful, and full of dark comedy, while Nicholas Cage delivers a strong performance as the titular protagonist, a portrait of simultaneous modern-American success and failure.

#39. Bad Santa – 2003 (Dir. Terry Zwigoff)

A strange and wonderful pipe bomb lobbed in the face of traditional, bland Christmas cinema, Bad Santa is simply put a ****ed up little movie that is oddly enough, fairly touching as well. Billy Bob Thornton gives one of the best performances of his career, playing a profane, vulgar, and alcoholic mall Santa who is willing to take a few bullets in the gut if it means he can deliver a pink stuffed elephant to fat kid whose house he’s squatting at. And really, is that not what Christmas is all about?

#38. Lost in Translation – 2003 (Dir. Sofia Coppola)

What does it mean to be lonely? Is it to be isolated, trapped in a foreign culture or literally alone? Or is it just as possible to be lonely when you are trapped alongside people who barely know who you are? Lost in Translation captures not only the longing of loneliness, but also the tenderness and affection that can occur between two lost souls, if even in a purely platonic fashion. Bill Murray got robbed man.

#37. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – 2001-2003 (Dir. Peter Jackson)

Disregard the fandom, the backlash, and the boatload of Oscars, and the Lord of the Rings remain a terrific series of old-fashioned epics like Hollywood used to make. Good fights evil, some are corrupted, others triumph, and the craftsmanship of it all is universally excellent. It’s a fairly simple story that’s surprisingly hard to mess up, but Peter Jackson makes it a thrilling piece of entertainment that is epic in scope and intimate in detail. And as for Andy Serkis’ fantastic performance as Gollum, Robert Zemeckis, take note: this is how you use motion-capture.

#36. City of God – 2003 (Dir. Fernando Merielles)

As evidenced by the recent Precious, urban social decay is a subject troubling to capture on film. If you’re too heavy-handed, then you’re left with something resembling an after-school special, but if you go for too light a touch you risk cheapening the subject. This is what makes City of God all the more tremendous as a film, in that it takes a grueling story of one boy’s attempt to escape from the crime-riddled slums of Rio, and makes riveting through a mix of inventive storytelling, bitter realism, and editing that would make Scorsese proud.

#35. Wonder Boys – 2000 (Dir. Curtis Hanson)

By nature you would expect a film about writing to be incredibly self-indulgent, but there is something so charming and amiable about Wonder Boys that it never feels pretentious. It’s a meandering, “hanging out” kind of movie about a group of people learning from one another over one strange weekend, and when that kind of movie is pulled off it’s aimlessness can feel sort of wonderful. It’s a really sweet movie full of humanity, dry wit, and a great Dylan-centric soundtrack.

#34. Ratatouille – 2007 (Dir. Brad Bird)

The second in Brad Bird’s unofficial series about embracing your inner purpose, Ratatouille is a wonderful and sophisticated film about the nature of art, criticism, and dreams. As can always be expected, Pixar takes a story full of message that would be trite in any lesser hands, and makes them magical. Pardon the tired metaphor, but the animation is as exquisite as a fine meal, and the voice work – from a cast that ranges from Patton Oswalt to Peter O’Toole – is a fantastic accompaniment.

#33. Punch-Drunk Love – 2002 (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

Adam Sandler’s comedic persona is indeed a strange one, a bizarre mix of a psyche in arrested development and random outbursts of uncontrollable rage, which makes Paul Thomas Anderson’s fourth film all the more fascinating in how he is able to corral that very persona into a figure of frustration and yearning. Punch-Drunk Love is a romance about people who wouldn’t be given the time of day in any other movie, a collection of damaged people who desire the unfettered joy of love in an otherwise mundane world. It’s undoubtedly Anderson’s most optimistic film, and the combination of the film’s use of color and Jon Brion’s score makes it a magical film.

#32. Collateral – 2004 (Dir. Michael Mann)

Beautiful digital cinematography compliments Michael Mann’s blackly comedic thriller about the underbelly of Los Angeles. It’s a fairly simple, nifty film, but it manages to do a lot with its conceit, and the movie is ultimately a strangely philosophical tale about one man acting as a force of nature and a catalyst for change in the life of another. Collateral is a great character study in the guise of a high concept thriller, and Cruise and Foxx have both never been better.

#31. Spirited Away – 2002 (Dir. Hayao Miyazaki)

When I think of Miyazaki, I think of a guy who knows what makes a fairy tale work. It’s the combination of the right amount of wonder, genuine weirdness, and surreal beauty, and he is able to pull it off here in spades with this wonderful story of a girl lost down her own strange rabbit hole. It’s a piece of cinematic poetry, and arguable Miyazaki’s best film.

This list wasn’t as hard to compile as I thought it would be.  When I go to the movies, after I’m sitting there watching the credit, I decide then and there whether I’m going to buy it when it comes out on DVD. I don’t know if anyone shares the same sensation but after I see a movie I absolutely love, I look forward to owning.  Not necessarily to watch again (although that’s part of it) but to be able to share the movie with friends who haven’t seen it so they can love the movie too and we’ll have that in common (or they can hate it and it will always be a blemish on their permanent friendship record). So I looked at all the movies that came out in the 2000s and looked for the ones I owned and that made it easy*.  I also tried to put them in order of best to least best.  Honestly, the only numbers that matter is 1-15. After that it gets pretty interchangeable.

If I ever wrote anything on my blog about the movie, there’s a link to it.

50. The Fountain
49. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
48. Away From Her
47. Casino Royale
46. Up
45. Tropic Thunder
44. The Hangover
43. Little Miss Sunshine
42. The Way of the Gun
41. The Prestige
40. American Psycho
39. The Bourne Ultimatum
38. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
37. 28 Days Later
36. Raising Victor Vargas
35. Thank You For Smoking
34. Snatch
33. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
32. Lars & The Real Girl
31. The Constant Gardener
30. Old School
29. Shaun of the Dead
28. The Departed
27. Spider-Man 2
26. Best In Show
25. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
24. Finding Nemo
23. Love & Basketball
22. In the Mood for Love
21. X2: X-Men United
20. The Incredibles
19. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
18. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
17. Spirited Away
16. The Royal Tenenbaums
15. Kill Bill Vol. 1
14. Almost Famous
13. Once
12. Oldboy
11. High Fidelity
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
9. Love Actually
8. Brokeback Mountain
7. Pan’s Labyrinth
6. The Dark Knight
5. WALL-E
4. Memento
3. Children of Men
2. Before Sunset
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I haven’t quite finished my top 10 of 2009 but here is my Top 20 films from 2000 – 2009.

What’s yours?

1)Lost in Translation

2)X-men 2

3)Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

4)Cache(Hidden)

5)Let the Right One In

6)King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

7)Memento

8)Bourne Trilogy

9)Children of Men

10)Eden Lake

11)Inglourious Basterds

12)Elephant

13)Hedwig and the Angry Inch

14)Superbad

15)Pan’s Labyrinth

16)Spirited Away

17)About a Boy

18)Munich

19)The Dark Knight

20)Planet Terror

(FR) “You are what you eat”, the basic idea behind my exclusive “TOP TENS” here in Dangerously Naive, and you’ll be seeing a lot of them, it’s is my take on the one-on-one interview that you usually see on different blogs and articles, I just thought you’ll get to know more of the artist the moment you discover the things that inspires them. Today we are featuring some of the works and inspiration of my good friend, French visual artist Quentin LÎnw, born in 1983 in South-West of France where he is based at the moment. LÎnw devoted his photographic work mixing numerical technologies with the more traditional special effects since 2005. Mixing surrealism, humour and darkness here are some of LÎnw’s latest work and his TOP TEN VISIONARIES that inspires him.

Recent prints are made in Diasec Process Large of ~100cm

______________

LÎNW’S 10 VISIONARIES (in random order)

1. 小林 正樹 Masaki Kobayashi
(February 14, 1916–October 4, 1996)
Japanese director
Kwaidan (1965)
Harakiri (1962)
Samurai Rebellion (1967)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaki_Kobayashi

2. René Barjavel
(January 24, 1911 – November 24, 1985)
French author
Journalist
Critic
Ravage (1943)
Le Grand Secret (1973)
La Nuit des temps (1968)
Une Rose au Paradis (1981)
Le Voyageur imprudent (1943)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Barjavel

3. Clinton “Clint” Eastwood, Jr.
(born May 31, 1930)
American actor
Film director
Film producer
Composer
Five Academy Awards
Five Golden Globe Awards
Unforgiven (1992)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Mystic River (2003)
Letters from Iwo Jima (2007)
In the Line of Fire (1993)
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Gran Torino (2008)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Eastwood

4. Sir Ridley Scott
(born 30 November 1937)
English film director
Producer
The Duellists (1977)
Alien (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Gladiator (2000)
Black Hawk Down(2007)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridley_Scott

5. Steven Allan Spielberg
(born December 18, 1946)
American film director
Screenwriter
Film producer
Academy Award for Best Director for 1993’s Schindler’s List
Academy Award for Best Director for 1998’s Saving Private Ryan
Jaws (1975)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Forbes magazine places Spielberg’s personal net worth at $3.0 billion
Time Magazine’s 100 Most Important People of the Century
Life Magazine’s Most Influential Person of his Generation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg

6. 宮崎 駿 Hayao Miyazaki
(born January 5, 1941)
Japanese filmmaker
Co-founder of Studio Ghibli
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Spirited Away (2001)
Time Magazine Most Influential Asians of the past 60 years
Time 100 Most Influential People 2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki

7. Philip Kindred Dick
(December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982)
American novelist
Short story writer
Essayist
A Scanner Darkly (1977)
VALIS (1981)
The Man in the High Castle (1962)
Hugo Award for Best Novel (1963)
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick

8. George Walton Lucas, Jr.
(born May 14, 1944)
American film producer
Screenwriter
Director
Chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd.
Star Wars (1977)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Estimated net worth of $3.0 billion as of 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lucas

9. 押井守 Mamoru Oshii
(born August 8, 1951 in Tokyo)
Japanese filmmaker
Writer

Ghost in the Shell (1981)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamoru_Oshii

10. Quentin Jerome Tarantino
(born March 27, 1963)
American film director
Screenwriter
Producer
Cinematographer
Actor
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Kill Bill (Vol. 1, 2003; Vol. 2, 2004)
Death Proof (2007)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Academy Awards Nomination

Golden Globe Nomination

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Tarantino

http://www.lenw.org/

Slick 2009

http://www.104.fr/

http://www.slick-paris.com/

Related Entry: http://naiveboy.com/2009/10/08/the-ten-male-beauties-of-all-time-by-photographer-navo/

This year’s choice, thanks to Chris, is 6:00 by Dream Theatre. I need to get more stuff by them…

Last year I sent The Sixth Station by Joe Hisaishi, from the soundtrack to Spirited Away.

In 2007 I sent Princess Six by Ash. (I’d ignore the video. It was just the only place I could find the music…)

As it seems that every other film critic or keeper of a weblog that deals with film is compiling a ‘best of’ list as the end of the Noughties approaches at speed, I feel compelled to offer one of my own (which might mean I am conformist at heart, but I hope not).  In no particular order and in full recognition of the futility of the exercise, eleven of the best films from the last ten years that touch on matters of religion or the religious:

Frame Capture from Sunshine

Sunshine (Danny Boyle, 2007): Working from an unusually thoughtful script by the novelist Alex Garland (who in The Tesseract gives us a compelling distillation of the fractures of the contemporary world), Boyle gives us another science fiction meditation on the possible end of the world.  The film is also a haunting allegory for the deep darknesses that still exist out there waiting for us to find, whether that darkness is the relentless, uncaring power of nature or the madness of believing one to be uniquely chosen by the divine for a mission of extreme violence.  At the same time, it is possibly the most taut, visceral and simply exciting film on this list.

Children of Men (Afonso Cuaron, 2006): This is the most chilling and most believable of any of the dystopian futures we have seen in a century that seems to be revelling in the fact that it may or may not have much of a future. The quick glimpses we get of the religious reactions – hopelessness, self-flagellation – to a potentially world-ending crisis are telling and perfectly in line with what could happen.  This is stunning science fiction at the same time that it is a deeply felt and well-considered meditation on the way we live now, and the ways we may not live in the future (it is also the only film on this list whose DVD special features include a documentary starring Slavoj Žižek rambling on about the sorry sate of the world, which makes it worth a rental even if for no other reason).  In the end, chilling as it may be, the film’s only fault is that it may be too hopeful, too firm in its affirmation of the human capacity for good.

There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007): This is a bluntly subversive film, an argument in narrative form that American capitalism and American Christianity are two sides of the same corrupt coin.  Told in the from of a character study of the most deeply and convincingly misanthropic figure in contemporary popular culture, Anderson’s best film to date tells the story of the intertwining of the religious and the economic that can be read as a condemnation of the Prosperity Gospel movement or as a critique of violence perpetrated in the name of profit that is given a slickly religious gloss. or even as a repudiation of the whole language of family values.  Regardless of how you look at, this is strong stuff, the kind of challenging, socially aware cinema that we can never have enough of.

Frame Capture from Heaven

Heaven (Tom Tykwer, 2002): Working from a script by Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, originally intended as part of another trilogy for Kieslowski, sho gave us the lovely Trois Colours, the great German director Tom Tykwer turns this simple tale of two damaged people in love and on the run into something altogether remarkable.  It resonates with biblical and Christian themes and language and offers a very strange and very effective kind of aesthetic redemption to its protagonists, both of whom are murderers.  At the same time, this is no simple religious parable or morality play; there is so much going on here below the surface of what seems to be a very simple story that it is almost staggering.  The second script in the series, L’Enfer, a bitter tale about the hell of other people, was made into a film in 2005 by Danis Tanovic.  The third, dealing with the theme of Purgatory, sadly, remains unfilmed.

The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008): This might seem like a stretch, but bear with me for a moment or two.  When the butler Alfred tells Bruce Wayne, Batman’s playboy alter-ego, that some men – the Joker in this case – just want to watch the world burn, he nails the character of religiously-motivated violence in the contemporary world, which is more performative and symbolic than strategic or tactical.  In the final analysis, this is a startling depiction of the deep irrationalities and the dark magics that underlie the surface of the rationalised modern world.  It is also a striking visualisation of the things that modern societies must do to combat these forces.  On this front, see also Tykwer’s brilliant 2006 adaptation of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and to a lesser extent Nolan’s own 2006 film The Prestige.

The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005): Though it does branch over into Orientalist fantasy on occasion, this retelling of the seminal American story of the colonial captain John Smith and his relationship with an Algonquin girl, usually given the name Pocahontas, is a distillation of Malick’s decades-long meditation on modernity and its deeply destructive relationship with nature.  This bears as little resemblance as possible to the deplorable Disney film dealing with the same story.  In The New World, he does this primarily through a comparison, never forced, between the enchanted world of the Algonquin and one that is being violently disenchanted, and this with the help of the church that we see the British colonists building in their mudpit of a town, built for the film a few kilometres from the site of the historical Jamestown, first settled in the early seventeenth century.  It is also one of the most visually stunning films on this list, even if cannot compare with Malick’s 1978 Days of Heaven, arguably the single most beautiful movie in the history of movies.  For the curious, I’ve written more on Malick here.

Jesus Camp (Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, 2006): The only documentary to make this list, Jesus Camp, and one which is a little suspect in its own implicit claims towards objectivity, Jesus Camp, like no other film, gives us a window into the world of fundamentalist Christianity (and I know this is an unpopular term in the academy, but here it fits like a glove) in the United States.  That the film renders this world as one that is alien and largely incomprehensible to much of the world beyond the American heartland is only to its credit.  These people are out there, and there are more of them than we might care to think.

Frame Capture from Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (Kim Ki-Duk, 2003): This is, I do realise, a cliché, and a film that seems to go out of its way to pander to Western preconceptions about Buddhism, but it is also a lovely little piece of work, a gentle but powerful parable about the weight of suffering and delusion that so many of us seem to carry with us.  It also features the single best cinematic use of a cat in recent memory.  See it as a double feature with Ki-Duk’s 3-Iron, which is just as much a parable and perhaps even more a Buddhist film than Spring, though in a far more subtle manner.

The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005): With the possible exception of the very different The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Hilcoat’s Old Testament inflected story of the Australian Outback in the middle of the nineteenth century is the finest Western of the decade.  Working from a script by bad seed Nick Cave, the film takes on a veneer of biblical darkness and inhabits a moral universe that owes far more to the logic of the book of Job than to the myths of civilising European colonialism. At the end of the film, when two men, one barbaric and dying, the other alive and vaguely more civilised, sit facing the future, the film suggests that this is the heart of where we are now, and that heart lies in large part informed by the bloody stories of our past, both biblical and colonial.  For further reflections on the film and its place in contemporary Australian cinema, I’ve written more elsewhere on this site.

Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001): Miyazaki is one of our great filmmakers, a fiercely original voice and a deeply moral commentator on the world at large.  A classic story of a haunted amusement park and a paean to the complex spirit world of the Japanese religions, this is amusing, touching, terrifying and intellectually engaging all at the same time.

Frame Capture from The Bothersome Man

The Bothersome Man (Jens Lien, 2006): Another dystopian film that suggests that the modern city with all its cleanliness, order and impeccable taste, just might be hell (and I had such fond memories of Oslo, which this film has truly interrupted).  This little Norwegian gem is one of the few really original visions of the afterlife that we’ve seen in years and it is one of the most blackly comic films in a decade full of pitch-dark humour.  It is also a stirring demand that we all become bothersome to those things that require bothering (rationalisation, commodification, etc.).

And the worst (and this one was easy): The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004): Gibson’s infamous film is riddled with problems.  It is historically inaccurate (Jesus and Pilate conversing in Latin rather than Greek (the language that two men in their traditional positions would have had in common), the executioner’s nails being driven through the palms and not the wrists, etc., etc.), which is really only a problem given that the filmmakers made such a big noise about being historically accurate.  It is brutally, cruelly sadistic and in its cruelty becomes deeply suspect on a theological level, given that it transforms the suffering of Jesus into an endurance test that no man (not even a white guy with digitally-altered brown eyes and a prosthetic hook nose) could have survived such torture for so long, essentially denying the messianic figure the divinity that has so long defined Christianity’s theological understanding of its own textual history.  This is a Braveheart version of Jesus that avoids deeper questions and goes for the dubious pleasures of reveling in the torture, though crucifixion was absolutely a form of torture, something the film actually gets right.  Despite removing the vaunted ‘blood libel’ from the Gospel of Matthew from the finished film (though they did shoot it), it is also rabidly anti-Semitic as well as being deeply misogynistic – Satan takes the form of a woman who we often see stalking unseen among the Jewish crowds. It makes the Roman authorities into enlightened and sympathetic humanists while at the same time transforming the occupied Semitic peoples of Jerusalem into a vacuous rabble that is violent, backwards, bloodthirsty and in need of some civilising.  If this isn’t what a colleague here at Otago calls ‘a theology of empire’, and a thinly-veiled defence of the American occupation of Iraq, I don’t know what is.  It is also guilty of the most grievous of all cinematic sins in that it is flat-out boring and at least an hour too long.

Perhaps even more so than Jesus Camp, the film is a crystallisation of all that is perverse and troubling about Evangelical Christianity in the United States in the twenty-first century.  That it became the rallying point of an election and that any criticism of the film was labelled anti-Christian regardless of its source or motivation, made the very existence of the film deeply disturbing.  It was shot in part in Matera (in the region of Basilicata), the same Italian city as Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1964 masterpiece Il vangelo secondo Matteo, but the two films could not be more different.  That this, still by far the best film about Jesus ever made, was made by an atheist who portrayed Satan as a Catholic priest, says something very interesting about the place of the story of the Gospels in Western culture.  If you’ve not seen Pasolini’s take on Jesus as a socialist revolutionary, you should.

It was released in the same year as a Star Wars and a Lord of the Rings, and in a decade that gave us Pan’s Labyrinth and, uh, two more Lord of the Rings. But for me, Spirited Away is the defining work of fantasy on the big screen– a masterpiece of imagination that is without peer.

If I were making this list based on the sheer, visceral thrill of the moviegoing experience, this one would top them all, hands down. I remember seeing this one on the big screen– the first time I ever had such an honor with a Miyazaki film– and being utterly floored, not just at the animation (all hand-drawn!) but also the sheer scope and limitlessness of the auteur’s world-building, story-telling know-how. I struggled for a long time against the temptation to watch it again on DVD, not wanting the impact of that first viewing to be diminished, but the story is simply too rich and intoxicating to be denied. It fits the cardinal test of this kind of list: I could literally watch it over and over again.

Speaking of intoxication, I think it’s funny that the film is so often described using the language of narcotics. I’ve heard it called trippy, druggy, hallucinatory… and, of course, it draws frequent comparisons to the opium haze of Alice in Wonderland. But this isn’t the kind of movie that feels like it was birthed during an acid trip. Far from it: It’s drunk on nothing but childlike whimsy, wide-eyed wonder, the sheer joy of creation.

What’s it about? It’s about growing up, to be simple about it, but it’s not just a linear coming-of-age story. It’s emotionally mature, sophisticated. It’s like an elaborate series of little parables, some about friendship, some about responsibility, some about protecting the environment. It’s pro-family, pro-earth, anti-whining. It’s a lot like life– but maybe weirder. And it’s magical. You may have preconceptions about fairy tales, or about Japanese animation, but I promise you’ve never seen anything even remotely like Spirited Away.

#3. The New World (Malick, 2006)
#5. No Country for Old Men (Coen, 2007)

Around two years ago I noticed a Spirited Away DVD in the supermarket. At that point I had not yet seen any of Hayao Miyazaki’s movies, but I’ve heard him being praised to heavens countless times, so I bought that DVD without thinking much, got home, started the movie, and got ready for awesomeness.

I was disappointed though, mostly because the whole movie seemed to be building up to something, and, in the end, that “something” never came (or at least that was the reason for my disappointment that I pinpointed right after watching). I was left with an extremely unsatisfied feeling, wondering about why this movie always gets praised so much… but I didn’t intend to give up on Miyazaki yet!

So I started watching Ghibli movies one after another, trying to find one I would really like. And funnily enough, all the ones I truly enjoyed were by Isao Takahata and Yoshifumi Kondō, and not by Miyazaki.

When it came to Miyazaki’s movies, there always seemed to be something missing, something that would result in my having a hard time at suspending my disbelief and simply enjoying the movie. All his movies had their own faults, both big and little, but there was one fault that was common throughout them all: the characters. His characters felt so fake and forced, acting the way they were not because that was the kind of people they were, but because that was the way Miyazaki wanted them to act. And this way he “wanted them to act” was simply too perfect and unachievable for a mere mortal like me. His characters simply lacked humanity.

You don’t need to get far into My Neighbor Totoro to clearly see that impossible perfection. When Satsuki gets into the house, she keeps getting around the house floor on her knees. I know that Japanese have this shoe-touching-the-floor phobia (over where I live it’s also really rude to enter someone’s house with your shoes on), but did Miyazaki ever try getting around the floor like that? To me it almost seemed like that girl is torturing herself because god forbid if her shoes get anywhere in the vicinity of the floor. I think a normal kid would have simply taken off their shoes, but that’s the point of the whole thing: Satsuki is not a normal kid, she’s the ideal perfect kid.

Should be classified as a form of torture.

And this gets ramped up to a wall-bangy extent in the climax of the movie. Just how many kilometres did that girl run there? Maybe Miyazaki thinks an average active kid could do that, but to me it looked like Satsuki has the bright future of an Olympic champion, if she didn’t already break a few records there.

The thing that had her running so much also had the hell idealised out of it. I remember back when I was eight, I, my cousin, her friend, her friend’s six-year-old sister and my five-year-old brother went to play at the field irrigation channel. We left the two younger kids up on the road and went to play in the water. But when we returned to the road, my brother was not around anymore. We went up the road a bit, he didn’t seem to be anywhere in the horizon, so we just returned to the village. My mom was a bit angry with me for leaving my brother standing around on that road, but she didn’t throw up any panic. No one was running around all over the place and we just sat around waiting for him to come back. In the end it turned out that he didn’t go off anywhere, he simply got bored and returned to the village by himself, and spent the whole time playing in the sandbox behind a neighbour’s house. No drama, no anything.

I know that a movie is not reality and that a movie needs a climax, but that’s the point: you can’t have your main character get so unrealistically worried that it would almost make a normal person in the same situation look like a heartless bastard, and you can’t have that result in her beating records set by professional marathon runners simply because it’s a movie and a movie needs a climax. I have nothing against fiction driven by plot and necessity, but there’s a limit to the kind of impossible things that dramatic necessity can drive your characters to do.

Satsuki: breaking Guiness records at long distance running since 1988.

In Sprited Away the main character gets trapped in a magical place and soon starts working hard at a bathhouse. I repeat: a little girl who has never worked before and definitely is too young to not sob once she realizes that she won’t be back home with her parents for a while, works hard at a bathhouse every day. I guess the audience Miyazaki aimed at would not have enjoyed a realistic portrayal there, but I can’t relate to such a 100% perfect little girl.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was probably the worst at this. While watching that movie, I could almost see Miyazaki prancing in front of the screen, pointing at Nausicaa and going all “See her? She’s in the right! She subscribes to my political views and everything she says is right!”. I don’t remember Nausicaa doing anything particularly human throughout the whole movie. She was 100% perfect and her sole purpose was to drive Miyazaki’s point home, not to have me identifying with her.

Nausicaa is in the right.

It may seem like I’m pointing out insignificant details, but in the kinds of movies that Miyazaki makes those little details are all the characterisation the main characters are ever going to get. And those little details create an image of impossible perfection of the main characters, which gives this “I’m infallible and Miyazaki approves of me” feel to them, and, as a result, they just don’t feel human. And that, combined with the generally preachy tone that Miyazaki’s movies tend to have, is enough to render me completely unable to suspend my disbelief. If I just suspended my disbelief while watching that DVD of Spirited Away, and didn’t spend the whole time thinking “are we at the climax yet?”, then I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed that movie.

While watching a Miyazaki movie I just nod at the good animation that pays attention to detail, I praise the nice setting, I think about how the whole thing feels very different from the stuff I usually watch, and before I notice, the movie is already over, without ever managing to muster up any kind of emotion inside me. And I’m only left wondering about how could anyone genuinely enjoy a movie with characters that feel so fake and far-away.

Picking best of lists for a decade is hard enough for one person, let alone two. While our year end lists (which will begin tomorrow) are pretty solid, each of us had at least one thing for each list that didn’t make the cut. So, we present to you, our honorable mentions:

Video Games
Michael: Wii Sports
When Nintendo announced the Wii, the gimmick of the motion sensor controls was revolutionary in gaming. While Nintendo has struggled to keep up with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there was a time when Wii Sports, the free game that came with the system, was the most popular and addicting video game out there. Using custom avatars to play baseball, golf, bowling, tennis, and boxing, Wii Sports got players off the couch and into heated matches that could go on for hours. The games aren’t too challenging, but the competitive nature of them, combined with the novelty of having actual control over the movements of you characters was a winner, especially with families. Wii Sports has faded a bit as the novelty of the Wii has, but there still are few things less entertaining then holding your own Wiilympics.

Jonah: Katamari Damacy
With its absurdist concept and whacked-out gameplay, Katamari Damacy was an unlikely candidate to become a gaming phenomenon, but its success marked a new chapter in independent gaming, while its sense of humor provided a nice middle ground between dour shoot-em-ups and cartoony Mario games.

Books
Michael: Richard Russo – Empire Falls
Stuck at a dead end in a small town is not a new theme, yet in Empire Falls, Richard Russo makes it his own in a compelling story of a man forced to face his past, present and future through the power of one woman who’s controlled it all. The book centers around Miles Roby, a restaurant owner in a town depressed by the loss of a textile plant, who has a smart and precocious teenage daughter, an eccentric father, a soon to be remarried ex-wife, a millionaire widow, Mrs. Whiting, that controls his life and the town, and dozens of other townspeople. But Russo doesn’t stop there, delving into Miles’ relationship with his dead mother, her relationship with Mr. Whiting, and even high school bullying. In the end, Empire Falls is a profound exploration of life in a small, closed community, and how we handle the disappointment of ourselves and others.

Jonah: Michael Pollan – The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Fast Food Nation has all the flash and muckracking, but Pollan’s more sweeping book, framed as an examination of the preparation of four meals – ranging from fast food to a meal prepared entirely of food grown, hunted, or gathered by Pollan himself – takes a critical look at what we put on our dinner plates and the hidden cost in environmental damage and hormones. Sustainability may have replaced organic

TV Shows
Michael: Undeclared

After Freaks and Geeks was dumped by NBC and before he became the king of late 2000’s comedy, Judd Apatow served as executive producer on the short lived Undeclared on Fox. The show, about an awkward college freshman and his friends, saw Apatow and protegee Seth Rogen honing the one-liners and improvisation that would lead both of them to success with films The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. The show is a bit dated in some parts (Seth Rogen bragging about his flat screen monitor, main character Stephen losing an important disc), it rather perfectly captures some elements of college and transition so many students make from their high school to college selves. The show debuted after 9/11, not a prime period for comedy, and was bounced around the Fox schedule before being canceled. But there’s a lot of great material in Undeclared which, especially for fans of Apatow, should not be missed.

Jonah: The Middleman
Marooned on a network that no body cares about and tragically cut short due to a total lack of interest, The Middleman’s blend of whimsy and nerdiness made for one of the most fun seasons of television ever. With great performances from Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales, lightning fast dialogue, and a charming b-movie feel, The Middleman was a throwback to an earlier era of escapist television, but with a post-modern sensibility firmly entrenched in the modern day.

Film Performances
Michael: Nicholas Cage – Adaptation
Of late, Nicholas Cage’s career has mostly been full of popular fluff (National Treasuer, Ghost Rider), but with his Oscar nominated role in Spike Jonez’ Adaptation, he shows off some really great acting chops. Playing actual screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin brother Donald, Cage plays both the neurotic and confident characters with the same amount of intensity. So much attention was placed on Kaufman writing himself and his neuroses into the script, but the way Cage takes them in and sheds whatever image you had of him is more impressive. Though Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep also shine through in this movie, Cage is front and center giving it all in a truly memorable performance.

Jonah: Thora Birch – Ghost World
Because its set in such a peculiar, idiosyncratic universe, it would have been easy for Ghost World to descend too far into irony and parody. And it would have, were it not for the brilliant actors who inhabited Daniel Clowes characters. While Steve Buscemi gives the film a heart and Scarlett Johansson gives it a smirk, its Thora Birch who centers Ghost World. Her Enid treads the line between disatisfaction, aimlessness, and yearning, without falling into easy, sneering charicature. The result is a character who is a microcosm of the slightly surreal, but not unrecognizable teenage wasteland that Ghost World is set in.

Films
Michael: Elephant
There were certainly a lot of fantastic films over the last 10 years, and even choosing a honorable mention was incredibly hard, but my choice goes to one of the most haunting movies I’ve ever seen. Directed by Gus Van Sant, Elephant is the story of a school shooting told in the most intimate and minimal way possible. Van Sant moves his camera through the school, following a series of students (played by real high school students) as they go through their arbitrary day to day activities. By the time the shooters appear on screen, the film is nearly half over, and very little explanation as to why they go through with such a terrible act makes the film even more frightening. The roving camera and sparse score intensify the film, filling you with a sense of dread from the first shot until the terrifying last. Van Sant struck gold in the 2000s with Milk, and rightfully so, but Elephant shows an auteur letting his camera try to tell a story that words often fail to.

Jonah: Spirited Away
Most of this decade’s greatest animated films have been influenced by Hayao Miyazaki, so it’s only fair to honor the man himself with what could well be his masterpiece. A tender, whimsical piece of filmmaking that doesn’t condescend or idealize childhood, Spirited Away is in many ways Miyazaki’s most emotionally charged work. The spirit world of the film is richly detailed and fully realized, but the film’s real triumph is building a protagonist who actually resonates with what I was like as child.

Songs
Michael: “NYC” – Interpol
With the guitar echoing and Paul Bank’s deep voice filled with reverb, “NYC” is a song that floats from the speakers rather than blasts from it. Released less than a year after September 11, the song is an ode to hipsters who realize it’s time to resurrect the city they’ve leaned on for so long. This may seem like too deep of a reading into it, but “NYC” is not even a typical song by Interpol’s standards. The guitars float and echo and the song reaches a plateau rather than a peak before descending down again, a resolution of either success in fixing the city or a loss of interest. Either way, the song stays with you far longer than anything else like it.

Jonah: “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal” – Of Montreal
The break-up album is nothing new in rock and roll, but Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyed succeeded due to Kevin Barnes’ naked, emotional honesty, nowhere more so than on the records centerpiece song. He throws himself into chemicals, religion, and, ultimately, a number of unfulfilling sexual encounters, but its the album’s epic, stunning nervous breakdown/dance party that still resonates today. A sprawling ode to alienation, “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” is an unflinching documentation of clinical depression set in a dance club, the moment where you can hear his psyche cracking and breaking. For just under 12 minutes, Kevin Barnes earned all the over-enthusiastic Bowie comparisons.

Albums
Michael: The Wrens – The Meadowlands
By the time the Wrens released The Meadowlands, even they had begun to give up the dream of rock glory. After their hostile label head halted production of their previous records in the mid-90s, their small following dwindled, and The Meadowlands arrived seven years after their previous record, Seacaus, with most of the band going back to day jobs to make ends meet. These seven hard years produced an album that is equal parts anger, regret, and longing. The Meadowlands is the sound of growing old and realizing not all the same opportunities are available anymore. Many of the songs went through various versions before the ones present on the record, but the final product is powerful and a testament to the greatness of a band that had been off the radar for too long. From the pulsing personal narrative of “Everyone Choose Sides,” to the regret ladden “13 Months in 6 Minutes,” and the bitter “Hopeless,” The Meadowlands is an over looked classic from a band that deserves more than what it got.

Jonah: The Avalanches – Since I Left You
A group of foreigners made a record in 2000 that shook listeners, tore down old walls, and presaged the direction music would move in this decade. No, I’m not talking about Kid A (yet), but instead The Avalanches’ Since I Left You. The record is a hazed-out, dreamy triumph, whose eclectic charm coheres in a way that other sample-based music can sometimes feel too piecemeal. The result is an album that feels like its own creation and not just a spin through someone’s record collection. From the joyous start of the title track to the memorable Madonna sample in “Stay Another Season,” Since I Left You feels like the start to an adventure, and in a way, it was, since it served as a launch pad for a lot of what followed in the next ten years of music.

10. Toy Story (1995)

To be honest, most of the reason that Toy Story is in this top ten is its status as a milestone of animation. Toy Story truly is the most influential animated film since Snow White, ringing in the new trend of computer animation. However, that is not the only reason it made the list. Toy Story is really a delightful movie with colourful characters and a timeless essence which I believe will preserve this movie as a classic for kids of all ages.

9. Spirited Away (2001)

Hayao Miyazaki is the master of animation, and Spirited Away is one of his masterpieces. Spirited Away proves that there are things that can be done with animation which probably could never be pulled off in live-action movie making. Spirited away is pure, unadulterated child’s imagination laid out for us on screen, and it blew audiences away, even becoming the highest grossing film in Japanese history.

8. The Iron Giant (1999)

Over the past decade, non-Disney animated films have really taken hold and found a niche of their own. However, before this explosion of new animation, non-Disney cartoon movies were few and far between. And really good non-Disney animated movies were even harder to find. However, hidden between the Toy Storys and Lion Kings and Shreks is a wonderful little movie called The Iron Giant.
The Iron Giant may seem like a simple tale, but it is handled brilliantly, complete with real character relationships, themes which may be a little hard-edged, and a wonderful emotional core. If you have not yet seen The Iron Giant, do yourself a favour and watch it.

7. Shrek (2001)

Now, lets be straight here: I am not talking about the ridiculously over-commercialized sequels. I truly believe that the very name of Shrek has been muddied by the greed of the studio and filmmakers involved, and that the magic of this original first movie has been hidden from view.
Shrek was a movie which defied the regular story tale approach that most animated movies (Disney especially) had been taking. The computer animation itself was very refreshing at the time, and the sharp humour mixed with the emotional impact made for one fantastic film. Its too bad that when we see the lovable green ogre we no longer see this great movie, but instead we see the dollar signs of greed, the Burger King promotions, and the terrible sequels riddled with pop culture junk. Just don’t forget; Shrek at one time did mean something.

6. Wall*E (2008)

It may seem presumptuous to put a movie which is still so new onto this list. However, Pixar has been the powerhouse of animation over this last decade, and this story of a funny little robot who would find the lost human race is their absolute masterpiece. Fro the nearly-silent and brilliant opening to the exciting conclusion, WallE has some really deep themes sinking in, which remaining very light-hearted at its center. An absolutely brilliant piece of work.

5. Fantasia (1940)

Fantasia seems like it was really an experiment on the blending of animation with music, with audio and visual swirling together in one harmoniously package. Well, it worked. And now Disney’s cartoon opera has a firm hold in the history of film-making and is a landmark in animated feature films.

4. Princess Mononoke (1997)

Perhaps the most inventive country in animation is Japan, and there is none greater than Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki hand draws each frame by himself, an incredible feat in this age of production-lines. Princess Mononoke is Miyazaki’s masterpiece; an epic full of adventure, romance, fantasy, heroes and villains. It has a heavy theme involving the conflict of the industrial age and the need for ecological balance with nature. It is a brilliant film in almost every regard, and perhaps the greatest from the most imaginative and daring country in animation today.

3. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938)

Snow White is the Birth of a Nation for animated films. Walt Disney’s landmark film brought full-scale, feature-length animation to the forefront, and he then reigned on the animation throne for many decades to come. Snow White is beloved by many and has a unique place in the annals of film history. It was a spectacular achievement of its time, opening to doors to what animation can truly do to the movies.

2. Beauty and the Beat (1991)

In the late 80s/ early 90s, Disney was undergoing a new renaissance. They had found new life in a series of high quality stories amidst great-looking animation. The Little Mermaid kicked off this new golden era, but it was Beauty and the Beast where it hit its peak. The art in this movie looked amazing, while the characters were fully realized and the story flowed perfectly. Beauty and the Beast was the first, and so far still the only, animated movie to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, and for good reason.

1. Pinocchio (1940)

Snow White may have started off Disney’s reign on the throne of animation, but Pinocchio was his crowning achievement. Many film critics around the world recognize this movie as the best that animated feature films has to offer. It was able to take what worked from Snow White and fix everything that didn’t work. And think about how iconic some of the themes and parts of that movie are now, especially the song “When you wish upon a star” and Jiminy Cricket, the physical representation of Pinocchio’s conscience which has become a song of inspiration for many people over the years. The tale is a classic morality tale played out through wonderful storytelling and fantasy.

Alla sammanfattar 00-talet just nu, jag är inget undantag. Det kom en hel hög bra filmer under decenniet, från hyperrealistiska dramadokumentärer till högklassig fantasy och underbara animerade filmer.

Här är de tio bästa:

10. Donnie Darko
Den här filmen hade inte behövt alla tidstypiska poplåtar för att placera sig omisskännligt i 80-talet. Stämningarna som byggs upp och skildringen av Donnies accelererande psykos gör den till det mästerverk den är.

9. Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex
Kritiken mot den här filmen är befogad, lika lite som boken den bygger på förklarar den på något begripligt vis Röda arméfraktionens drivkrafter, förutom att det ser väldigt häftigt ut att sno bilar, spränga saker och skjuta folk. Å andra sidan lyckas filmen verkligen med den uppgiften, stadsgerilla har aldrig varit sexigare.

8. Der Untergang
I Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex spelar Bruno Ganz terroristbekämparen Horst Herold, mannen som skaffade sig ett eget datoriserat furstendöme på BKA i Wiesbaden. I Der Untergang är han der Führer själv. En paranoid, nervsjuk gammal man i ett rike i totalt sönderfall. Den definitiva Hitlerfilmen.

7. Morvern Callar
Samantha Morton är lysande som missanpassad snabbköpskassörska i en film som är lika vacker när den skildrar skotsk vinter som spansk sommar.

6. Bloody Sunday
Brittiska soldaters massmord på fjorton obeväpnade demonstranter i stadsdelen Bogside i Derry, Nordirland 30 januari 1972 skildras utdraget och obarmhärtigt realistiskt. Som film om terrorns orsaker är den raka motsatsen till Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex. Konkretare och mer lättbegripligt kan det knappast bli.

5. This is England
Britterna har en alldeles särskild känsla för realism, och en kärlek till sina subkulturer som av någon anledning saknas helt i Sverige. En kärleksförklaring till skinheads som går rätt in i hjärtat.

4. Spirited Away
Hayao Miyazakis verkliga genombrottsfilm i västvärlden är en helt fantastisk sagoberättelse och något av det bästa tecknade jag sett på film.

3. Lord of the Rings-trilogin
JRR Tolkien skrev de ultimata fantasyromanerna, och Peter Jackson har gjort den ultimata fantasyfilmen. Ses helst i de förlängda DVD-versionerna, i en följd.

2. The Virgin Suicides
USA-premiär 1999, Sverigepremiär 2000. Därmed kvalar Sofia Coppolas hyllning till Peter Weirs Picnic at Hanging Rock in på den här listan. Så fantastiskt vacker.

1. Fight Club
Ja, den kom verkligen 1999, men överskuggar 00-talet så fullständigt att den självklart toppar en sådan här lista. Ett mästerverk och en av de där filmerna som faktiskt är bättre än boken.

Strax utanför: Old Boy (korridorscenen!), No Country for Old Men (garagerockfrisyren!), Battle Royale (Takeshi!), Pans labyrint (fascism och fantasy!), The Football Factory (kläderna!), Inglourious Basterds (uniformerna!), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (sagokänslan!), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johnny Depp!), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (galenskapen!), Watchmen (allt!)

Mer om 00-talet, filmer, Old Boy, No Country for Old Men, Inglourious Basterds, Battle Royale, Pans labyrint, Football Factory, Harry Potter, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Watchmen, Fight Club, The Virgin Suicides, Lord of the Rings, Spirited Away, This is England, Bloody Sunday, Morvern Callar, Donnie Darko, Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex, Der Untergang,

Spirited Away is Hayao Miyazaki’s biggest success so far and the movie he got the Oscar for.

Plot:
Sen Chihiro is moving with her parents. On their way to the new house, they happen upon an abandoned theme park. Curious, they go to look at it. When the parents find plates of food, they dig in. Sen doesn’t as she’s afraid. When night falls, her parents are turned into pigs and Sen Chihiro, turned Chihiro Sen, finds work at a bath house for gods, with the help of the mysterious Haku.

*sigh*
Spirited Away is just plain wonderful. (Depending on my mood, it fights for the favourite Miyazaki movie spot with Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbour Totoro.) Visually, it’s definitely the most beautiful of Miyazaki’s movies. And I love Haku.

But it’s not only Haku I love – I also love Chihiro and pretty much all the characters.

And I think it’s a fascinating look into the mythology of Japan – all the gods and creatures running around. I bet somebody who knows their Japanese mythology could tell you about each and every one of them – what they mean and represent and so on.

[I'd love to hear that, btw. So if anybody wants to get into it, I'm totally available.]

The story is absolutely amazing. And while it should be really scary – and there are a lot of threats flying around the place – you’re never afraid. I’m not sure how Miyazaki accomplishes that. Maybe you’re just lulled by the beauty of it all. Or maybe his sense of humour does the deed… anyway, it is done.

Oh and the score… Joe Hisaishi is awesome… I probably should have mentioned him in the Miyazaki movie posts before this one because he wrote the score for all of those and they’re all great, but for Spirited Away, he outdid himself. [And then again for Howl's Moving Castle.]

The cute, it is lethal.

Summarising, as most of Miyazaki’s stuff, definitely a must-see.

My flight out of Grand Manan last night took me to the most wonderful place. I flew over the Blake Sea and out to Spyglass Island where I took a short break (my hands were getting cold), then made my way up along the eastern edge of Nautilus until I reached Tordangle, a beautiful little Japanese fishing village and yacht club.

The flight lasts about 45 minutes, but it is well worth it, as there are lots of interesting islands and ports to see from the plane on the way there. Almost the entire route is over the sea, as well, so you don’t have to worry about the usual hazards to aircraft like full parcels and banlines. Here’s the map:

Flight Route from Grand Manan to Tordangle

Fortunately, I made a short film of my landing in Tordangle, which should give you a nice idea of the lay of the land (or water as the case may be). About half way through, you’ll see that I almost collided mid-water with another seaplane that was taking off at the same time I was landing. I don’t think either of us saw the other until it was almost too late, but we somehow managed to stay off of the eleven o’clock news.

After like five cigarettes and once my knees stopped shaking, I was able to deplane and have a look around. The village takes up the entire sim, so there is a lot to see and do. I started by exploring a weathered little house which was surrounded by a beach.

House on the beach

Inside, I found all sorts of fabulous little details, like this record player and vase with cut flowers.

An intimate scene

I was also excited to find that someone had laid dinner out on the table. It was a breakfast dinner actually with eggs sunny side up, tomato slices, milk, bread and fruit. I’d gotten hungry on the way here, so this was a nice surprise. There was even a candle burning which gave my meal a pleasant atmosphere, and the food tasted so good in the salty air coming in from the window.

A simple yummy meal

I’d spotted a sea wall with a row of buildings at the top as I was walking over to the house, so, after I finished eating, I decided to go and have a look. I made my way up a set of old stone steps, and the first thing I encountered was a stand that offered steaming hot pork buns for free. I couldn’t resist, though I felt a little bit like Chihiro’s parents in Spirited Away.

Here piggy

And while these buns didn’t magically transform me into a pig, they turned out to be remarkable in their own way. As I munched away, I noticed that the bun was slowly disappearing in my hands as I ate. How cool?

Magic buns (lol)

It turned out that the row of buildings was a mix of small shops and houses. There was an art supply store with a giant tube of oil paint leaning against the door, a shop that sold anime pets, and a furniture boutique. All of the prices were reasonable and there were freebies everywhere. There was also an alleyway behind the first row of shops that had some interesting things for free and for sale, as well as some adorable little nooks to sit and get away from it all. I picked up a cute low-prim tea set there for free that will look good on my dining room table.

Shops on the first row

The alley behind

I even played a game of kenpa while listening to the wind chimes.

After poking around some more, it was getting to be time to go, so I headed back to the dock where I’d tied up my plane and flew off. There was so much more to see and do here. The Tordangle sim is an incredible place. Everywhere you look there is some odd and subtle detail all tied together harmoniously in this strange little village. I know I’ll be coming back here soon to see them all.

Clovers

Ponyo (2008)
★★★★ / ★★★★

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, “Ponyo” (also known as “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea”) tells the story of a princess goldfish (Noah Cyrus) who truly wants to become human. After escaping from her father (Liam Neeson) whose job is to maintain balance in the natural world, she meets a five-year-old boy named Sosuke (Frankie Jonas) and instantly falls for him. Although I very much enjoyed this latest film from Miyazaki, I don’t think it’s his finest work. The story is beyond cute, the characters’ motivations are easy to understand, the world has a sense of wonder, and the situations the characters are put in have enough danger in them to make the audiences want to root for the characters to succeed. In a nutshell, it’s the perfect movie for kids and adults because it’s highly entertaining. However, I wasn’t as emotionally invested in it as I was when I saw “Spirited Away” for the first time. It must be noted that I saw the dubbed version of this animated picture in theaters so perhaps some of the dialogue was lost in translation. But I wanted a more insightful story regarding the characters. Earlier in the film, there was this tension between Sosuke’s mother (Tina Fey) and father (Matt Damon) because his father was always away at sea. There was a certain innocence and genuine comedy when the mother and father were trying to communicate in morse code by using lights. I wanted more of those situational family moments because then the film becomes that much more personal. What I really liked was that the message about the environment and how we must do our best to take care of it but it the message was never heavy-handed. Such messages were simply shown on the screen as tons of garbage were being collected from the ocean floor and ocean creatures were suffering in more ways imaginable (including the title character). Despite some of the very small negatives I mentioned, I still think this is a very strong film about a creature who tried her best to reach her dreams. “The Little Mermaid” comparisons are justified because of the premise but one shouldn’t imply that it doesn’t rise above the template. In fact, Miyazaki’s signature style of being unbound by realism was constantly at the forefront here. Therefore, every image we get (and the emotions that come with them) is very inspired and it’s very difficult to resist its charm.

While I have this lovely little interlude called “working on Friday night” and am able to post blogs, I think I’ll touch on a topic that’s been discussed heavily as of late in the Carleton film community (OK, amidst me and 3-4 other people). See, this is late 2009, which means that 2010 and a brand new decade are just around the corner. And us human beings (and film lovers) being such 10-centric creatures, we like to divide up history by which decade it lands in. So the point I’m coming to is this: it’s time to determine, roughly, the “best movies of the decade.” In other terms, that means figuring out which films released between 2000-2009 were highest in quality, contributed most to the sum of our culture, were the most transcendent works of art. Etc.

Here’s the hitch, though: I am a poor college student. Also, earlier in this decade, I was about 12. This means I have by no means seen all, or even most, of this decade’s good or great films. This may well disqualify me from making any sort of list or judgment, but so be it. I do not put myself forth as the ultimate arbiter of that which is beautiful; maybe when somebody ponies up the cash for me to see every movie that comes out, then I’ll declare myself arbiter. Till then, this will have to do. I’ve pretty much just glanced over lists of movies from this time period and picked out a few particularly good ones I’ve seen. Trying to make such selections, especially with films that may yet make a difference historically, is full of its own special hazards, but this is my own little, minimum-effort attempt at it. I’ve assembled 10+ movies, in no real order, because fuck that. Enjoy!

Timecode (2000). It’s a perverse, complex experiment from Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis: four cameras, shooting continuously for an hour and a half, mapping out the quadrants of a story set in a small Hollywood production company. It may seem gimmicky to some, distracting and confusing to others, but it really worked for me, and as with most of the movies to be listed here, I desperately need to see it again. (Oh, but for an extra day without responsibilities.) If the technical and logistic innovation required weren’t enough, it’s also dramatically solid – the actors (an ensemble including Salma Hayek, Stellan Skarsgård, and Julian Sands) aren’t just window dressing, but provide a four-paneled window into a set of confused people striving for romantic and professional success. It’s a challenging film (the four soundtracks, for example, are carefully mixed to emphasize some pieces of dialogue at the expense of others), but also very worthwhile.

Adaptation. (2002). Charlie Kaufman: mindbending screenwriter/auteur of our times. I still haven’t seen Synecdoche, New York, which has received mixed reviews (and has been included on some similar lists), but I think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is also probably one of the best-of-the-decade. Adaptation., though… despite a general, well-earned antipathy toward Nicolas Cage (he was in the Wicker Man remake, 2 National Treasure movies, etc.; don’t pity him), he pulls off being one of Kaufman’s nervous, sweaty men just as well as John Cusack did in Being John Malkovich – and in this case, said sweaty man is Charlie Kaufman himself, or a fictionalized version thereof, full of humorous neuroses and foibles, as well as a healthy, also-fictionalized sibling rivalry. Then he starts adapting an unadaptable book by Meryl Streep who’s really Susan Orleans who wrote the book Adaptation. is adapted from… and the typical Kaufman craziness begins (this is a movie engineered to make you repeat “Kaufman” many, many times). As with Timecode, the gimmick – in this case, metafiction to the extreme – works, and every Kaufman, fictional or otherwise, gives some insight into the creative process, with alligators. Chris Cooper is great, too.

Mooladé (2004). Note to self: watch more African cinema. Senegalese master Ousmane Sembène showed why with this powerful, engrossing film about the ritual of female genital mutilation in western Africa, and a fearless woman who wants to put a stop to it. I wrote about the film in more detail shortly after I first saw it, and I have no reservations about putting it on this list. It simultaneously takes on clashes between old and new, Africa and Europe, women and the patriarchy, being political and good-spirited at the same time. It’s a beautiful film that shows you what’s happening and why it’s wrong, while balancing a number of colorful village characters and day-to-day events. And its matriarchal heroine, Colle Ardo Gallo Sy, is one you won’t forget soon. I hope to keep my eyes further open for the next decade of African film.

La Pianiste (2001). Again, I begin this listing with a single name: Michael Haneke. You can love him or you can hate him. If you’re fond of pleasurable cinematic experiences and not so fond of abrasive, agonizing art films, it’s more likely to be the latter. (I could say the same of a lot of people, I suppose. Lars von Trier and Antichrist, from what I’ve heard, probably count.) My experience with Haneke is pretty limited (this and his original Funny Games), but he’s a creative force to be reckoned with as the century marches on – hell, he won the Palme d’Or for The White Ribbon, as I learned earlier. La Pianiste, or The Piano Teacher, is driven largely by one performance: that of the also to-be-reckoned-with Isabelle Huppert, here a freckly, receding woman full of intelligence, Freudian conflict, and self-loathing. She teaches piano; she experiments with forbidden sexuality; she does some very, very bad things involving glass. Through Huppert’s actions, Haneke sticks his dagger into bourgeois sickness and twists it, hard.

Brick (2006). It was made cheaply by a first-time director, Rian Johnson, who edited it on his personal computer. The tale of a loner moving through dark circles attempting to solve the murder of a loved one wasn’t new, but the story’s milieu – a suburban California high school – was. Three years later, the novelty’s worn off, but the tag of film-noir-set-in-high-school doesn’t really do it justice. Johnson creates a new, identifiable world out of ones that more or less existed before, whether in our miserable adolescences or on Warner Bros. back lots in the 1940s. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the stoic Brendan, investigating his girlfriend’s death, and undeterred by the crowd of teenage thugs leaping at him (often literally) out of the woodwork. The rest of the cast is filled in by archetypes-made-flesh, from the Pin, a kid with a cane who could’ve been George Macready, to Tug (Mike Mazurki?), former flame Kara (maybe Gloria Grahame?), and Laura, the femme fatale. It’s visually engaging, fast-moving without being rushed, and with staccato dialogue right out of Sweet Smell of Success to match. Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom unfortunately made little impact when it was released earlier this year, but his career’s still full of potential, and I’m excited to see what else he produces from Brick’s promise.

The Saddest Music in the World (2003). This is another film I’ve covered in depth on this blog, and an admittedly very idiosyncratic choice. Like Rian Johnson, Canada’s resident mad scientist Guy Maddin plunders cinematic history for inspiration, but unlike anyone else, he transmutes classical Hollywood gold into his own brand of very strange gold (that’s an alchemy metaphor that didn’t quite work out). Co-writer George Toles fills in the dark non sequiturs, stars like Maria de Medeiros and Isabella Rossellini turn the words into viable conversation, and Maddin provides an overarching vision of Depression-era Winnipeg, all expressionistic set design and splintered editing, like that perfected in his The Heart of the World. There’s sad music, fake folklore, and allusions aplenty to Maddin’s ’20s-’30s forebears, all wrapped together in a melodramatically absurdist package. (This has also been quite a decade for Maddin’s countryman David Cronenberg; I haven’t seen A History of Violence, but Eastern Promises was an international gangster film that carried over many thematic elements from his horror films.)

Let the Right One In (2008). In an age when vampires are most associated with a sparkly, vapid teen idol called “RPazz,” it was sheer relief to see this intense, crystalline horror film travel across the Atlantic, like the plague-infested cargo of some Swedish Nosferatu. It doesn’t focus exclusively on the bloody truth of vampirism, nor does it take the accursed SMeyer path of reducing its monster to a glamorous mannequin entangled in a love for the ages. Instead, its protagonists are a quiet 12-year-old boy living in a typical, snowy Swedish town, and a quiet, slightly older vampire girl who wants to be his friend. Background characters are normal, sometimes drunken adults and selfish schoolchildren who go about their own lives. Like another recent Swedish masterpiece, You, the Living (2007), these are pale, average people; only in this case, one of them happens to hungrily scarf up blood every chance she gets. It’s a somber film about a connection between two lonely kids, punctuated by scenes of ferocious violence. And it’s certainly in a class of its own.

Spirited Away (2001). Hayao Miyazaki is probably the most consistent positive force in animation over the past 20-30 years. I haven’t yet seen Ponyo, but Miyazaki just looks unstoppable: imagine, making Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away back to back! The more I think about it, the more Spirited Away – or properly Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi – looks like one of the greatest accomplishments thus far in animation history. It has as much potency as any one of the Magic Kingdom’s properties, whether you go with Snow White, Fantasia, or Beauty and the Beast. It’s a Japanese film, but it’s absolutely universal. It speaks in terms of friendship, nature, and kindness, as many of Miyazaki’s films do, rather than national or cultural boundaries. It’s endlessly rewatchable, and appealing to any age group with its detailed settings and playful artistic sensibilities.

Gushing about Spirited Away aside (OK, it’s not perfect, but it’s still one of the decade’s best films), there are some other animation highlights to point out. Also in 2001, Richard Linklater directed the rotoscoped Waking Life, a smörgåsbord of philosophical and sociocultural rumination, as the narrative itself digresses from idea to idea, and from character to character – as if in a dream, or in a Linklater movie (see 1991’s Slacker). In 2003, French animator Sylvain Chomet produced the oddball, Tati-influenced Les Triplettes de Belleville, an endlessly inventive, primarily visual story of a resilient old woman rescuing her bicyclist grandson from enigmatic gangsters.

And sure, there was Pixar, but fuck Pixar. Finding Nemo was full of prefab sentiment, The Incredibles was tolerable, and WALL-E was certainly more impressive than either, but Pixar inevitably leaves me dissatisfied – maybe it’s their world of glossy-eyed underdogs, or maybe the fact that they’re constantly trying to produce a milestone as big as Toy Story. In any case, I prefer films like Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, a faithful adaptation of her graphic memoir of the same name. The film is as beautifully illustrated as the novel (I feel like more comics should be adapted that way), with the added pleasure of hearing Catherine Deneuve and Danielle Darrieux voicing Marjane’s mother and grandmother, respectively. Beside that, it’s damned poignant and politically relevant. Persepolis is the kind of animated adaptation I want to see more of in the 2010s.

The Dark Knight (2008). Yes, it was overhyped. If you were around in the summer of ‘08, you were probably being asked “y so srs?” It was also the most profitable movie of the ’00s. And, by and large, it was good. Christopher Nolan stayed true to his gritty, naturalistic self. The film has several climaxes, a number of high-adrenaline set pieces, but doesn’t get bogged down in them; Bruce Wayne and Morgan Freeman brave a number of ethical dilemmas, but it’s never self-righteous; and Harvey Dent goes more than a little crazy (and deformed), but it feels natural. The single reason for the film’s greatness, what prevents it from being just another Batman movie (and Christ, we do not need another of those), is exactly what everyone’s said the reason is: the late Heath Ledger. Because his Joker is a character who so defies straight, Manichaean action, who laughs at the notion of ethics, and to whom crazy is just as good as sane. Basically, saying that Dark Knight is one of the great films of the 2000s is saying that Heath Ledger gave one of the great performances of the 2000s. He did, and it really makes the movie work, and it’s a really enjoyable movie.

No Country for Old Men (2007). It’s the Coen Brothers. They’ve done, they did it, and they’re still doing it. No Country is set in a bleak world where a little greed can lead to a lot of mayhem, Treasure of the Sierra Madre style, except now a cattle gun is involved. [Worth noting: doesn't this show how appropriate it was for the Coens to adapt Cormac McCarthy? Bleak and violent... Blood Simple? Blood Meridian? I rest my case.] As with The Dark Knight, a villain ties it all together, but it’d be inane to lump the Joker together with Anton Chigurh. He’s taciturn, undefeatable, and more fiercely deterministic with his coin-flipping than Two-Face. It’s one big game of cat and mouse across Texas, with interlopers trying to get their own fistfuls of would-be hero Llewellyn Moss’s dollars, but to quote The Third Man, “they can’t stay the course like a professional.” And always in the background is Ed Tom Bell, a sheriff musing about the film’s goings-on and the transitory nature of life. Granted, the Coens’ vision is dark and pretty male-centered, but it’s also a diverting, thoughtful yarn set against the expertly filmed heat of the Southwest.

So, it’s almost 4 am, and that’s all I have at the moment; other movies I didn’t have time for include Mulholland Drive (2001), Hable con ella (2002), and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). As for 2009, from what I’ve seen, Coraline and Inglourious Basterds both look like they might turn out to be important films. But that’s the problem with declaring movies the “best of” something. Historical perspective might just come around and bite you in the ass, and next thing you know, you’re the guy who said How Green Was My Valley was undoubtedly better than Citizen Kane. Maybe someday I’ll be a real critic, and somebody’ll pay me to write one of these lists. For now, though, it’s all off my own dime, and it’s all for love of the art form. Here’s to the 2000s, and here’s hoping that another 10 years of great movies is right around the corner (and that the Mayans don’t cut it off 2 years in).

So I was watching At the Movies and they are doing a series of their “Top Ten Movies of the Decade”.  This week they put their 10th and 9th selections. Ironically of the 4 movies already selected I have only viewed one of them- Million Dollar Baby.  For various reasons I missed the other three.  Million Dollar Baby nearly made my list.  If it wasn’t for the ending.

Ever since I started my blog I’ve wanted to do an entry on my favorite movies.   One of my most popular postings was in May of last year called Music Galore.  It has had over double the hits of any other post.  My entries on comedy, theater and books have also been popular. Many times I began writing a similar entry on movies- but the topic proved too daunting each time.  There are just too many to choose from! Seeing the more narrow “Top Ten of the Decade” concept, I thought I would take another stab at a list of just my favorite recent movies.

First of all, let me explain what I love about the movies.  I would say 90% of the time I go to the movies to be entertained.  Some of my choices may not be the most educational or even uplifting films but they did entertain me.  This does not mean they are all comedies.  In fact, of my top 13 (ok I couldn’t narrow it down to 10!) 5 could be considered comedies, 2 are musicals, 2 are animated, 1 is a documentary and 2 dramas.   Each of the selected movies has also entertained me multiple times.  Not all movies do.  For example, the Prestige with Hugh Jackman and Christian Slater was enthralling the first time I saw it; however, the second time I didn’t really like it.   The Sixth Sense is another example; although that is not a movie from this decade.

I love the way movies can take me away from life and introduce me to a new world- whether that be a mystical Japanese spirit bath house or a modern-day fashion magazine.  I also appreciate movies that make me think a little bit while being entertained.  I am a particular sucker for movies about work and what we dedicate our lives to.  Having gone through the process of leaving a job I hated, I sympathize with characters that are sucked into workaholism and modern cubicle despair.    This can take the form of a comedy or a more somber drama.  You can see this theme in almost all of my choices-characters who struggle with what to dedicate their life too and who they are inside.  They struggle with how to live- what is the best life?  I enjoy that discovery.

So here goes- the top 13 in no particular order:

1. About a Boy- Touching and funny movie about a near-do-well who learns to be unselfish through befriending a young boy and his mom.

2. Spirited Away- Visually stunning animated film from Hiyao Miyazaki.  I dare you to guess what is coming next.  There is everything from a giant baby, to a paper dragon, to a witch that turns into a bird.  So creative!

3. Enron:  The Smartest Guys in the Room- Fascinating documentary about the rise and fall of Enron.  Amazing how one little rationalization, followed by another, really will lead a man carefully down to Hell.

4. Best in Show- Hilarious mockumentary about the Westminster dog show.  All of Guest’s movies are funny but this is my favorite.  I think because I am not an animal person I find those that are funny.

5. Pixar movies- Ok. I know this is lame but I couldn’t decide.  They are all so great.  Since 2000 Pixar has made Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, the Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, Walle and Up.  I especially like how there is no hamming it up to the camera and adult humor like the Shrek movies.  I hate that.

6. Slumdog Millionaire- I’ve never been to India but my aunt and uncle said Slumdog is a reasonably accurate depiction of the slums.  It feels so real while watching.  It is brutal and beautiful at the same time.  My favorite part is how the two lead characters maintain their innocence and love despite the chaos surrounding them.  I’ve seen this movie 4 times and each time I leave feeling inspired and comforted, which is suprising given some of the tough scenes.

7. Hairspray- While I have loved the return of  musicals in the last few years most of them have been on the raunchy side.  Finally Hairspray was the musical I’d been waiting for.  Its  music is catchy and will make you smile.  I just love it.

8. Walk the Line- Even as a conventional bio-pic I enjoy Walk the Line.  I love the music and how it brings June and Johnny Cash together.  Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are great.  I particularly like the scenes where Johnny goes on the “June Carter love walk” and she turns him down!  Great movie!

9. Devil Wears Prada- Funny and interesting movie about the modern work-world.  I like that Meryl Streep’s character is cruel but honest in her cruelty.  She knows that the fashion business is about making money and that is what is important to her.  Money and fashion are her life and in many ways that is sad. While I do think there can be a balance between career and family, it is tough.  DWP asks how much are we willing to give up for success? How much will we change to achieve it? Plus, there are some great lines like “One more stomach flu and I’ll be at my ideal dress size!”

10. Stranger than Fiction- Another great movie about work.  Will Farrell plays a man who starts hearing a narrator in his head.  This voice describes what he is doing and how he feels about it.  However, it becomes  disturbing when the voice predicts Farrell’s death.  Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are great.  Wonderful movie that makes you think about your life choices and what a narrator would say about them. Also, would our lives make a good book? If no, is that necessarily a bad thing?

11. Breach- Great suspenseful movie of the undercover operation that brought down Robert Hanson an FBI agent who sold secrets to the Soviets for over 20 years before he was caught.  The acting is top notch- particularly Chris Cooper as the complicated Hanson.  On one hand, we hate him but on another we get a glimpse of why he did it.  He wanted to be smarter than everyone else in the FBI.  He was tired of being marginalized and ignored.  Who can’t relate to that? Very exciting and interesting movie.

12. Dan in Real Life-  A simple movie I love.  It is funny, the kids are great and the story is touching.  It is about a widower played by Steve Carrell who writes a nearly-syndicated  parenting column.  Meanwhile his 3 daughters are all struggling.  I felt I could relate to the family dynamics in the story and again it asks the question- “What are you doing with life? and Why does your life matter?” I also like they kept the family chaos to a realistic non-slapstick level (for the most part at least).

13. Juno- I know the dialogue can be a bit glib, but I don’t care.  Juno is about a high school know-it-all who gets pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption.  It is the most pro-adoption movie I have seen in a long time, and I don’t think it glamorizes teen pregnancy as some have claimed.  Juno learns that she isn’t quite as smart as she once thought and this new humility comes with some hard-taught lessons.

So there it is.  My top movies of the decade.  Maybe there will be something in the next few months as amazing and have to be added to the list.  Hopefully!  I will be curious for your favorites.

Here we are…at the last “Pick your Prize Tuesday”. Voting for this prize will continue until Friday at which time votes will be tallied, names put into a hat, and winners chosen. On Saturday we will make our big announcement. Four books and a $50 gift certificate to Fictionwise – who can resist? Be sure to leave a comment so your name will be entered itno the drawing.

Now, our category for today is “Other.” Time travel, Space Adventures, and anything that didn’t fit into the first three categories. Which story interests you the most?

Option #1:

Book Summary: Knight Tristan de Barre and his men were murdered in 1292, their souls cursed to roam Dreadmoor Castle forever. Forensic archeologist Andi Monroe is excavating the site and studying the legend of a medieval knight who disappeared. But although she’s usually rational, Andi could swear she’s met the handsome knight’s ghost. Until she finds a way to lift the curse, though, love doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance.

Option 2:

Book Summary: Stubborn, lethal, and from Jersey?what more could a Viking warrior want from his woman? The Gathering, Book 1 Neecy Lawrence, winged warrior for a Viking goddess and second-in-command of the fierce Crows, doesn’t know what to do with a nice guy. As it is, making up for a past she’d sooner forget leaves her barely polite most days. But Raven leader and loyal Odin warrior, Will Yager, isn’t just nice. He’s gorgeous, hot, and a distraction she simply can’t afford. Yager has wanted Neecy in his life–and in his bed–for a long time. Not just for a night, but forever. And, like any self-respecting Viking, he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants. So what if she’s the most difficult, complex, never-gives-him-a-break woman he’s ever known? She’s more than worth the effort. In fact, she’s worth everything. And if it turns out that twenty-four hours of non-stop, any-way-she-wants-it sex doesn’t work with Neecy? Then it looks like he’ll just have to get a little more creative? This book has been previously published. Warning: Contains a strong, intelligent, ass-kicking heroine; an alpha hero with the occasional geeky tendency; gritty, realistic violence; and sex so hot that, well, let’s just say there’s not enough ice water in the world?

Option 3:

Book Summary: Feline Mosaic, Charis Sur, thought her mission aboard the INS Pagidion would be quick and easy. All she has to do is watch her target and keep him alive until Betelgeuse goes nova. Simple. Until one of the passengers drops dead in front of her. Suddenly everything is not simple. Her life depends on a successful mission and she has to protect her target from whatever killed this man. That throws her into the path of Jason Narak, the one man she never wanted to see again. The man who burned her six months before. Yet, even as her past with Jason hurls her mission, her life into disarray, Charis finds that something is waiting for them aboard the INS Pagidion. It calls itself darkness. And it needs a host.

Now, which one would you like to win???