The Best Films of the Decade

Well, it's finally the end of the first ten years of the new century. A new decade approaches, and there are hopes for a brighter future for all. Especially, when it comes to films. I had to sit down and think hard to myself, "What were the films that defined this decade?" Well, I whittled it down and I have decided on what were the Ten Best Films of the last decade from 2000 to 2009.

10. Superbad - Directed by Greg Mottola

It was the film that redefined the high school sex comedy genre, and ended it with a bang. This uncontrollable whirlwind of sophomoric humor with an homage to American Graffiti came from the warped minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and spatted out by the ultimate spaz trio; Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka McLovin) as three high school friends try to get booze and get laid before branching off towards a world that every 18 year old dreads; responsibility. American Pie was a titillating tiddler and Porky's amounted to glory-hole humor, but Superbad has a prose and style that is so perverse and insane that it would make David Mamet blush.

9. Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire - Directed by Lee Daniels

Precious is an intense and shocking look at the female equivalent of Job; an HIV-positive, obese, illiterate, raped teenager that tries to excel in her remedial studies and leave the world of abuse and neglect that she has grown up in. Gabourey Sidibe's breathtaking performance as Precious will be talked about in years to come; bruised and battered, she comes out strong and willing to take on anything standing in her way.

8. WALL-E- Directed by Andrew Stanton

Out of all the Pixar classics. WALL-E is a timeless animated film that explores a world in disarray and how a walking garbage disposal, with the nuances of Keaton and Chaplin, can help a dying planet. Prophetic, funny, and touching, the creative juices of Andrew Stanton mixed with an illustrious score by Thomas Newman make this film a visual and aural feast that stands on the shoulders with Brazil and 2001.

7. Venus- Directed by Roger Michell and 500 Days of Summer - Directed by Marc Webb

After being dragged by friend to see Hitch back in 2005, I walked out of the theater renouncing all romantic films. As soon as I saw Peter O'Toole and Jodie Whittaker onscreen in Venus, a legend with an aspiring actress, the sparks and emotions started to fly. O'Toole gives a stellar performance as an aging, impotent actor who falls in love with a young woman. At first, I thought I was watching Lolita: Redux, but as the story evolves, the film becomes a testament to the passage of time that we all must come across.

500 Days of Summer is another romantic comedy that caught my eye. Joseph Gorden-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel revive the humor and romance of Woody Allen and Diane Keaton with this modern take on falling in and out of love. The unique element of this fell-good flick is that it is non-linear; you don't see the typical beginning, middle, and end of a love story, which makes the film more funny and heartfelt.

6. The Wrestler - Directed by Darren Aronofsky

As the 2008 film season came to a close, the film that made me stand up and cheer, as well as cry, was The Wrestler. Mickey Rourke gives the performance of a lifetime as Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an aging wrestler trying to adapt to the modern world, despite being stuck in the 1980s. The myth of Icarus is displayed with grace and blood by Rourke as well as Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood as the women in his life he tries to connect to. Aronofsky adds another notch to his belt of celebrated films with this intense character study that mirrors Scorsese's Raging Bull and Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life.

5. Mystic River - Directed by Clint Eastwood

Based on the best-selling novel by Dennis Lehane, Mystic River is a powerful and provocative look at the aging friendship of three men, who are connected to a traumatizing moment in their past and are reunited with the death of one of their children. Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon ignite the screen thanks to Eastwood lighting the fuse with his ominous cinematography and haunting music. The ensemble cast that includes Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney work like a string ensemble; you don't know who's playing next, but it each actors plays beautifully on screen.

4. The Hurt Locker - Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

This decade has delivered war films that have had no substance, or spark. I'm not talking about The Pianist, or Letters from Iwo Jima, I'm referring to the Iraq War films that don't add up to snuff (Lions for Lambs, The Kingdom, Redacted). After watching The Hurt Locker, I felt a sigh of relief mixed with war fatigue as I had just witnessed the greatest war film since Full Metal Jacket. The film follows an Army bomb squad led by Jeremy Renner as he, along with his platoon, teeter on the edge of the proverbial knife as they dismantle bombs around Baghdad and try to regain their sanity throughout their tours of duty. Kathryn Bigelow's intense eyes and Mark Boal's dark script cast aside the politics of the conflict in Iraq, it shows the daily routine of men trying to live and breathe another day.

3. Milk - Directed by Gus Van Sant

Sean Penn has always impressed me with any role he comes across; a mentally-challenged father in I Am Sam, A coke addicted lawyer opposite Al Pacino in Carlito's Way, and a criminal paying for his sins in Mystic River. His performance as Harvey Milk really takes the cake, and we all get a slice of it. Set in San Fransisco in the 1970s, Milk chronicles the life and death of camera shop owner and former Wall Street businessman, Harvey Milk, as he becomes America's first openly gay politician until his tragic death in 1978. The film is a beacon of hope for any oppressed minority; regardless of sexual orientation or skin color as Van Sant captures the spirit of the Seventies with a flamboyant eye that matches Dustin Lance Black's incredible script. Over thirty years after Milk's death, his life is preserved through this film like many other icons of the last century.

2. There Will Be Blood - Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

This haunting and powerful epic from 2007 revolves around greed, religion, violence, redemption, and father-son relationships. Daniel Day-Lewis gives an iconic performance as Daniel Plainview; an oil prospecter who redefines the word "greed" as he clashes with Paul Dano as the founder of a new religion during the turn of the century. Paul Thomas Anderson's intense and provocative eye focuses on this hell on earth that is Southern California circa 1900. Robert Elswit's haunting and stunning cinematography mixed with Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood's score leaves you visually and aurally stunned. Plus, you leave the film with a strong appreciation for milkshakes.

1. The Departed - Directed by Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese has reinvented the crime genre again and again from Mean Streets to Goodfellas. In 2006, he returned to the crime genre with his adaptation of the 2002 Chinese thriller, Infernal Affairs, blended with William Monahan's wild screenplay set against the backdrop of the South Boston Irish Mob. The result, one of Scorsese's best pictures throughout his 40 year career. Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon play cat-and-mouse as they both infiltrate the Boston Special Crimes Unit and the Irish Mob led by Frank Costello, a devilishly fun and insane Jack Nicholson (Forget The Shining, this performance takes the cake).

Scorsese's panache for violence and Thelma Schoonmaker's fast-paced editing amounts to an homage of the crime classics of the 1930s (Scarface, Public Enemy, and Angels With Dirty Faces). Also thrown into the mix is Scorsese's eclectic soundtrack that adds another shot of adrenaline to the ears; Dropkick Murphys, The Rolling Stones (as usual), Badfinger, and Pink Floyd. Scorsese's eye is as sharp and meticulous as he sends the audience into the bowels of South Boston filled with rats and the dead. The crime genre may seem like an unusual choice for being the best film of the decade; sometimes, their merely cult films. But with Scorsese at the helm and a stunning ensemble cast giving the best performances of their careers, it is hard not to mention that the best film of the last ten years was The Departed.

I realize that I will be bombarded with questions like "Where was this film?" I tip my hat off to the following in my own little award categories.

Auteurs of the 00s:
Sofia Coppola, Jason Reitman, and Wes Anderson

Old Dogs With New Tricks:
The Coen Brothers, "A Serious Man"