The Decade in American Cinema

The Best American Movies of the Decade (too many foreign films to list)

It's a three-way tie for the Best Movie of the Decade ->

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS/THERE WILL BE BLOOD/THE DEPARTED

(All three of these movies must be seen in the theater, and each represent a different aspect of filmmaking that I adore, so all three are my Number 1 choice. "There will be Blood" was the most stylized. The acting and dialogue are impeccable, it's like staring at a detailed painting for three hours. It's politically metaphorical, religiously defiant, and profoundly poetic. I like the fact that P.T. Anderson pulled himself from the "cool-movie" race, from edgy Scorsese-ish films like "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia" to something more Robert Altman. It's a perfect example of all-American storytelling, and a powerful experience to witness on the big screen. I got to see it opening night at the IMAX and it surpassed all expectations. "The Departed" was the best who-dunnit film of the Scorsese noir-collection. It wasn't predictable, it was fast-paced, and there's no good guy. I enjoy movies where you root for a bad guy, even if he gets shot in the face when you least expect it. I knew this was going to be a classic, when a very abrupt opening credits roll twenty minutes into the movie. I like the film's immediacy, that the script doesn't waste time giving the characters a back-story. It really did feel like that old board game- "Clue". All of the characters are duping each other, while going for the clues. It had a great soundtrack, it's Leonardo's best, and I like any movie where Jack Nicholson plays a villain Mob boss. People that didn't see it in the theater will have a different opinion, but for those who saw it on the big screen, it had us at the edge of the seat to the very end. "Inglourious Basterds" is my Tarantino pick of the decade. I loved "Kill Bill" and "Death Proof", but this was one hell of a roller coaster for WWII film geeks like myself. Despite the fact that no one knew what approach or how Tarantino would tackle this genre, it surprised the shit out of me to no end. He spent very little time on scenes having anything to do with the war, and more on his quirky dialogue focused around Shoshanna's movie theater Nazi death trap. The basterds were the funny part of it, turning soldiers into cartoon characterizations, or rather exaggerations.. The rest of the movie was full of classic Tarantino-isms: unexpected scene cuts, odd camera angles, confusing chapter novelizations, an Ennio Morricone score, an obscure David Bowie sequence, references to all his favorite directors from Sergio Leone to John Hughes. "Batter up! Two hits... I hit you, you hit the ground"- as if people spoke like that in the 1940's. In essence, he made a WWII movie having almost nothing to do with WWII. He broke all the rules and guidelines of the genre and to top it all, re-wrote history, giving a tragic period in time a hilariously unrealistic Hollywood ending. The imagination can move you more than historical fact, if it's done right and taken to such outrageous proportions as this movie does. Brad Pitt's homage to John Wayne was perfect, and Christoph Waltz should win every award there is to win. The reason why I choose this, over "Kill Bill", is that this movie serves a purpose. Both are equally astounding, but "Kill Bill" is Tarantino's pet project where he tried to throw everything he loves about cinema in, and if you're not a fan of Sonny Chiba, or any Kung-Fu action types, it serves no purpose. "Inglourious Basterds" is a film for movie-critics AND movie-lovers. It's relevant to cinema, for the fact that it portrays the idea of the tough Jew. No other movie, especially war movies have ever done that. Tarantino has always liked to play with the revenge motif, but this time, he's playing with history to startle us. By the time Hitler gets his face shot off, the audience is already in the fantasy realm of Tarantino's twisted mind. It's like the guy never runs out of ways to shock us. Another notable reason why I love "Inglourious Basterds", is its unfinished feeling. He could have easily turned this into a Steven Speilberg flick, trimming the violence and tightening up the script, but that's exactly why I love it so much. It falls somewhere between the abstract, cult-cinema, and the American classic. It feels like he got to the finish line at the completion of the script, but decided not to edit or revise it. It's both, a foreign film and an American masterpiece. Will Quentin ever top this? I don't know, but if he does, it's going to have to involve some critical innovations in storytelling a la "Pulp Fiction")

Here are my other picks, in no particular order...

The Wrestler
Death Proof
Anything Else
Ghost World
Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2
25th hour
The Life Aquatic...
Art School Confidential
Bad Santa

Munich

Adaptation
The Pianist
Almost Famous
Gran Torino
No Country for Old Men
Punch Drunk Love
Vanilla Sky
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Lost in Translation
The Wackness
Sideways
Knocked Up
Moon
Apocalypto