The First Film That Came to My Mind..

for my Number #1 choice for top ten films of the past decade is
"No Country for Old Men". But then I thought of "The Road" (see a McCarthy based theme here anyone?)
But then, there's "Donnie Darko", which I still love to discuss with anyone who likes to...there's alot of Darko fans out there!
Then, there's "Moulin Rouge"- not full of deep meaning but cinematically and storyboard wise a special gem of the decade with nothing else to compare.
Then...there's the LOTR trilogy. I pretty much put it in a seperate place, high on some dark crystal mountain with nasty monster birds flying around to ward off any other nominations. It stands alone, cinematography, acting, writing, etc were each touched with perfectionism. That's how films should be- give a director and great writers 11 hours tell a story, and you will most likely get true authentic story telling that unfolds like an ancient old tome.
Ahh, LOTR....I could go on forever.

Then..there's "Children of Man" - this should have been a big hit for Clive Owen, it's a great surprise and I want to see it again soon. It's not a top fiver, but I think holds messages that this particular decade ring true.

What about "28 Days Later"? - Director Danny Boyle got everyone's attention with "trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionare" but stylistically, this one was modern, edgy, and a "horror" movie with scarier notions that Zombies for human kind's future.

Then there are always other critic's favorite's..."Juno" (cute but I could only see that once), "The Departed"( I found it smart, but didn't like the seemingly pointless violence"), "Crash" (pretencious crap), "Atonement" (which I hold dear to my heart but felt the actors were emotionally a bad match)...everyone's got their picks, based on their own perspective and what they like to see in films. We all don't like to see the same things.

But "No Country for Old Men" speaks to one of my favorite themes: the utter, unmoving absolute of real evil (psychotic minds without concious) and man's futile attempts to waylay "evil's" intent, whether by pleading, religion, outsmarting, outrunning, or simply flipping a coin for one's life (as is the case in the film). Then, I seem to see an underlying question in the film- would "evil" in form of Dutch haircut crazy man have ever been so present in the character's lives had it not been F$#@! with in the first place? I mean, do we all ask for it in the end, subconciously or not? Are there some subtexts we could draw on specific to this particular decade? Umm...yes. Alot.

And, Tommy Lee Jones is wonderful in this film. I could watch his face all day, it's like a Biblical map of the Grand Canyon with teeth, intelligence, and charm. Somehow, he pulls off that dying modern day cowboy/sheriff thing with style and with more dryness than Eastwood.

That's a good movie! Written originally by a great novelist. What's your top pick?