It’s Complicated **

It’s Complicated is essentially a romantic comedy for middle-aged women looking to have a laugh. Jane (Meryl Streep) is a divorcee with three grown children. The oldest daughter is engaged to the witty and charming Harley (John Krasinski), whose presence is manufactured to lend the film some credence with younger audiences. The children’s father Jake (Alec Baldwin) has remarried the younger woman with whom he cheated on his wife. Jake and Jane have been divorced ten years. So what’s so complicated? When they both go to New York to attend their youngest son’s graduation, they rekindle their former love and start an affair that lasts the better part of the movie.

Jane is going through a mid-life crisis. The last of her children is moving out, and she’s about to be living in an empty nest. A baker by trade, she’s remodeling her kitchen to accommodate her growing business. She goes to a plastic surgeon to see if she can raise her drooping eyelid. In sum, she’s lonely and bored. So when Jake comes along all handsome and fun, she goes with the flow. As for Jake, he claims that he really loves her and wants her back. But he’s already cheated on her once and now he’s cheating on his new wife. You just want to shout at the screen, “Jane, don’t be so dense!” I can’t see how anyone in the audience would want this ill-advised and ill-fated affair to work out.

Things are complicated some more when Jane’s new architect Adam (Steve Martin) enters the picture. It begins as a simple working relationship. Adam has been divorced for two years, and it’s clear he’s still having a tough time being alone. He’s quiet and understated; he’s a perfect foil to Jake. Some of the film’s best scenes are between Adam and Jane. They are both at the same point in their life, and it seems like they’re the perfect fit for one another. As he’s proven in the past, Steve Martin does a fine job playing the straight man. Adam is the safe decision. Jake is the exciting one.

The film’s primary flaw is that its execution feels unnatural and unbelievable. First, there’s the unnecessary Harley character. Second, the film is miscast. Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin are meant to be the same age, but Meryl looks about ten years older. Why? Because she is ten years older. Then there’s a scene with the three grown children crying in bed together. I never really believed them as a family, so I never really invested much interest in the outcome. And the scene where Steve Martin and Meryl Streep smoke pot? No thanks. All together, It’s Complicated tries to take itself more seriously than it needs to, and it tries to do too much with a weak story.

Sherlock Holmes ***

In Guy Ritchie’s version of London’s most famous sleuth, Sherlock Holmes is just as keen, witty, and brilliant as ever, and quite a lot more physical. Robert Downey, Jr. plays him as dry and anti-social, but we like him nonetheless. As the film opens Holmes is en route to breaking a case, aided by his trusty sidekick and physician, Dr. Watson John Watson (Jude Law). They make it on time, preventing Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) from sacrificing a woman in the dark bowels of nineteenth-century London. A few months later, Watson attends Blackwood’s execution. After the hanging, he checks his pulse. Blackwood’s dead. Holmes hasn’t had a case since.

But a few days later, Blackwood’s tomb is broken open and the groundskeeper of the cemetery swears he sees him walking out. Has he risen from the dead? Holmes is on the case. The film is a classic mystery and detective story with a lot of action thrown about. In one scene, Holmes boxes bare-fisted and bare-chested. As he plans his attack, Ritchie shows each blow in slow motion before unleashing the scene full-speed. It’s quite a lot of fun and effective in showing that the beloved detective is not only brains, though it does help him fight.

As the mystery unravels, we meet Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), an American woman Holmes has been involved with in the past. She’s in on the plot somehow, but she also seems to want to help him. He tries to reconcile his feelings for her with the case at hand as logically as possible. As Holmes and Watson dig deeper, they continue to discover darker secrets to what exactly is going on and who could be behind it all. Blackwood claimed he was only taking orders, anyway. By the film’s end most of the questions have been answered but not all of the mysteries have been solved. There will no doubt be a sequel.

Sherlock Holmes is Guy Ritchie’s most accessible film by far. He takes a familiar character in a familiar setting with a familiar story, but he also puts his own spin on the tradition. With a stubborn but likeable Downey, Jr. in the titular role and Law playing the affable straight man, the film showcases what’s best about casting good actors in large movies. For the urban historian in me, seeing nineteenth-century London brought to life is always a joy. Sword fight on top of the half-constructed Tower Bridge? Bring it on.

My Addiction to Documentaries. Part 1.

I’ve always loved documentaries. There is a texture to them, a reality that isn’t present in dramatized films for obvious reasons. Everybody watches them from time to time, but why aren’t there more blockbusting documentaries? Are people too turned off by talking heads and cut footage? Sure, you have your Michael Moore films, which are great entertainment, but they are also controversial, which is why they’re successful. The first documentary I saw in theaters was probably Bowling for Columbine (2002). Before the show started, the theater staff came in and put another row of folding chairs up front to accommodate more people. I also watched Spellbound (2003) and Super Size Me (2004)at the same theater. Both entertaining. I watched March of the Penguins (2005), which is one of the most successful documentaries ever. It’s also incredibly boring.

As of late, though, I’ve become addicted to documentaries. There’s something about watching a story unfold with recreations, talking heads, still photographs, and voiceover that’s really intriguing. I feel like the historian, but I didn’t have to do any of the research.

Which brings me to the number 1, no-holds-barred, all or nothing, most addictive film I’ve seen in the last five years: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007). This movie is just great fun. It quickly summarizes the climate of competitive classic arcade gaming before discovering that the real story is about a science teacher trying to break the record on Donkey Kong. The rub is that the current record holder is beloved Billy Mitchell, a staple in the gaming world who also happens to be something of a hot sauce mogul, a self-promoter, a patriot, and a jackass. On the other hand, Steve Wiebe is a soft-spoken, all around nice fellow just looking for his piece of the prize. We know who to root for. So when Steve Wiebe is robbed of his record score, he sets out to prove he’s the best. He’s like Mario trying to jump and climb his way to the top, only to have Billy Mitchell (aka Donkey Kong) throw barrels and fireballs and springs at him. Let’s hope Mario makes it.

Which brings me to another documentary, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008). Hunter Thompson, the writer who covered sports, politics, the Hell’s Angel, and the American Dream, was the face of journalism in the 1960’s and 70’s. His drug-addled mind eventually cooled off his genius, but the piece he wrote after the attacks of September 11 remains the best, most truthful, and ultimately most prophetic take of that horrific event. Thompson was a patriot and a gun nut, a drug addict and a wild man. Johnny Depp portrayed Thompson’s alter-ego Raoul Duke in Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. With Depp reading from his friend’s writings, the documentary strings together his most important works. Fascinating stuff.

Speaking of Depp and Gilliam, whatever happened to Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote? The documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002) reveals how the ill-fated production fell apart amidst lack of funds, storms, and a sick Don Quixote. It’s great to see a snippet of what Depp filmed for this movie, and it appears he would have delivered a great performance. Oh well. He was to play Toby Grisoni, an advertising executive who travels back to the time of Don Quixote. That was in 2000. But as of 2009, it appears Gilliam is at it again, this time with Robert Duvall as the titular character. As for Depp? That remains to be seen.

Like I said, I’m addicted. More to come.

Up in the Air ***1/2

Up in the Air is a topical look into the world of corporate downsizing. Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a fire-for-hire professional whose job it is to fly from company to company terminating employees. He hates being at home and he’s obsessed with ranking up as many frequent flyer miles as possible. It’s tough to say what he likes about his job. When his firm brings in recent college grad Natalie (Anna Kendrick) to revolutionize the way they do business, Ryan tries to convince his boss that firing people over the internet is crazy. Does Ryan really have compassion for the people he’s firing? Or does he just want to stay out on the road? I suppose it’s a little of both.

He gets to stay out on the road for a while longer, as he now must show the newcomer how to actually perform the job properly. As Ryan and Natalie travel from city to city, the film unfolds as a mature buddy comedy with all the fixings of real-life drama. Natalie is dumped by her boyfriend via text message (irony abound), Ryan starts a relationship with beautiful fellow road warrior Alex (Vera Farmiga) while trying to appease his sister’s request to take pictures for his other sister’s upcoming wedding. They crash parties and breakdown emotionally. And fire a lot of people.

The scenes where Ryan and Natalie must inform employees that they no longer have a job can be exhausting. These are people who have worked for their companies for ten, twenty, or thirty years, and their bosses don’t even have the courtesy to fire them themselves. In one particular scene, we see how Ryan addresses an employee portrayed by J.K. Simmons, and we see how he’s perfected his technique to allow these people to continue their lives. “This is a wake-up call,” he says, “a rebirth.”

Up in the Air is director Jason Reitman’s third film, his previous two being Thank You For Smoking and Juno. Reitman is always in command of his story, and it’s clear that his passion is for character. In the film’s best scene, Ryan takes a trip to Chicago. In no more than a few minutes, we learn so much about the characters. In total, Up in the Air is what many films aspire to be. It mixes comedy and drama into a relatively well-balanced story. Jason Reitman is one of Hollywood’s gifted young directors, and I look forward to seeing truly great films from him in the future.

1. 25th Hour (Best of the Decade)

25th Hour (2002)

Spike Lee’s 25th Hour is both a searing look into the last day of freedom for a convicted felon and an endearing look at a shattered and heartbroken city coming to terms with the terrorist attacks of September 11. David Benioff adapted his own novel about Monty Brogan, a drug dealer who loses everything when the Feds raid his apartment. The film’s primary action takes place over a single day in New York City, revealing in flashbacks how Monty got into this mess in the first place. Edward Norton plays him as an amiable man. He’s smart and loyal. He loves his girlfriend, Naturelle (Rosario Dawson). In the opening flashback, he rescues a beaten dog left for dead on the side of the road. On this last morning before he leaves for prison, he walks his dog through the streets of the city. It is calm.

The film looks and feels much like Monty does, like the mourning yet recuperating city does. It is often dark but at the same time serene. Terence Blanchard’s score is one of the most affective musical pieces in the last ten years, movie or no movie. Though it is a realistic look into the life and last day of a man, the film is also a fantasy. In one sequence, Monty enters a bathroom at his father’s bar and looks at the mirror. The words “Fuck You” are written on the mirror, which unleashes a torrent of anger and emotion from Monty, who proceeds to chastise everything and everybody in New York City, to curse Jesus, and to ultimately relent and accept the truth. “No, fuck you Monty Brogan,” he says, “you had everything and you threw it all away, you dumb fuck.”

He is to live seven years in Otisville Correctional Facility, but to him and his friends it might as well be a lifetime. He spends the last night of freedom by having dinner with his father (Brian Cox) and then meeting up with Naturelle as well as his two best friends, Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Frank (Barry Pepper). Should he skip town, avoiding his sentence to become a fugitive? His father would lose his bar, which he put up as bail. But his father doesn’t care. In the film’s final sequence, his father encourages him to run. This time Brian Cox delivers a powerful voiceover as we see the life that Monty could have if he were to avoid prison. It might as well be a lifetime.  25th Hour is the best film of the last decade.

2. Kill Bill (Best of the Decade)

Kill Bill: Vol.I (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Kill Bill was Quentin Tarantino’s eagerly anticipated follow-up to 1997’s Jackie Brown and his first original story since he burst into the mainstream with 1994’s Pulp Fiction. What he delivered was nothing short of expectation. A two-part saga that begins with its protagonist getting shot in the head, the film gives us pure Tarantino: the cinephile, the artist, the auteur.

Kill Bill: Vol I introduces us to The Bride (Uma Thurman), who is shot in the head and left for dead by her former boss and lover, Bill. Only she wasn’t dead. She lay in a coma for four years before awakening and seeking her revenge on those who were responsible for the massacre of her fiancée and friends and of the unborn child she carried. The Bride was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, so she can handle herself. But so can them.

 
                                                   She makes a death list:
                                                               
                                                1. O-Ren Ishii
                                                2. Vernita Green
                                                3. Elle Driver
                                                4. Budd
                                                5. BILL.

Told in five chapters, Vol. I climaxes with The Bride’s showdown with O-Ren (Lucy Liu) and her bodyguards, The Crazy 88. It is a grand action sequence. The film is largely influenced by Japanese Samurai movies, and it does not disappoint. When the credits roll, all we want is more.

And we get more. Vol. 2 is part Kung-Fu, part Spaghetti Western, with a whole heap of Tarantino. With more dialogue and less action, Vol. 2 is a slower and more nuanced film, and it is the better half. Bill (David Carradine) is now a primary character (we never see his face in Vol. I), and in this one The Bride must go through Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) and Bill’s brother Budd (Michael Madsen) before reaching numero 5. When she does, it’s more satisfying than we could have imagined. That Uma Thurman wasn’t nominated for an Oscar is beyond me. She carries the films, and it is one of the best female roles in the history of American cinema.

Much has been written about Tarantino’s willingness to derive so much material from other films. So be it. When he delivers, he delivers.

3. Almost Famous (Best of the Decade)

Almost Famous (2000)

Cameron Crowe’s pseudo-autobiographical tale of a young rock writer in the early 1970s is a poignant look at a time and place, a nostalgic nod to the false gods he idolized growing up. Patrick Fugit plays William Miller, the young Crowe if you will, a 15 year-old kid who falls into a job writing for Rolling Stone. Miller finds himself on the road with Stillwater, a fictional band with all the trademarks. Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) is the front man and lead singer, contentious and optimistic about the power of music. Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) is the lead guitarist, the best musician in the band who often overshadows Bebe. William is “the enemy,”—a rock writer. But as the band finds out, he’s also a fan. And a kid. He desperately needs to get his story, but city by city, week by week, he’s still out on the road, to the chagrin of his mother (Frances McDormand). William often turns to Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) for advice, a rock writer who turns into his mentor.

And then there’s Penny Lane (Kate Hudson, who has nominated by the Academy for her performance). Penny is a Band-Aid (groupie), who has a relationship with Russell, who also happens to have another girlfriend. William is in love with Penny. And her? She’s in love with music. Like your favorite album, Almost Famous has the ability to change depending on your mood, and it means something different each time you watch it. It’s all happening.

4. Slumdog Millionaire (Best of the Decade)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire was 2008’s runaway hit for a reason. First of all, it’s uplifting. Second, it’s awesome. Danny Boyle directed this fast-paced history lesson of Mumbai through the eyes of Jamal (Dev Patel), a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” He seems to know all the answers, but he’s just a kid from the slums. He must be cheating. The story is told in flashbacks as the police interrogate Jamal, and in the flashbacks we see how he learned the answers to each of the question. Contrived? You bet. But the story is not about the game show or the money. It’s about the rapid transformation of a city and how a handful of children who grew up with no family and no money survived. It is also, of course, like so many movies, a love story. Winner of 8 Academy Awards, Slumdog Millionaire deserved each and every one of them.

5. Punch-Drunk Love (Best of the Decade)

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Punch-Drunk Love is a mysterious movie, tough to categorize in anyway except to say it is a brilliant love story. If Juno is quirky and Eternal Sunshine is eccentric, then Punch-Drunk Love is flat-out deranged. Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan, a small business owner who specializes in selling plungers. One day, a truck conspicuously drops a harmonium (like a piano, only not) on the side of the road, and Barry snags it up. He is a loner with seven sisters, a family situation which must have driven him to insanity and back. Nobody really understands him until one day a woman, a coworker of one of his sister’s, drops by to meet him. Barry is smitten right away. Scored with the harmonium and Shelley Duvall’s singing of “He Needs Me” from Popeye (1980), Punch-Drunk Love is at once comically daring, part Hitchcockian thriller, and bizarrely sweet.

6. High Fidelity (Best of the Decade)

High Fidelity (2000)

For a movie obsessed with making lists, it’s appropriate that High Fidelity would make mine, though it didn’t quite make the top 5. Based on the novel by Nick Hornby, the film follows Rob Gordon (John Cusack), a Chicago record store owner who’s dumped by his girlfriend in the opening scene. Rob’s goal is to win her back. He tracks down former girlfriends, trying to figure out what consistently goes wrong in his relationships. Why is he always left heartbroken? He frequently addresses the camera, which works well as a character trait and stylistically. It’s as if we’re his best friend, his confidant in broken heartedness. The film also features Jack Black in his best role. Directed by Stephen Frears (who also directed The Grifters and The Queen, among others), High Fidelity is the best comedy of the last decade.

7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Best of the Decade)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is straight from the imagination of Charlie Kaufman, who won an Oscar for his screenplay. Jim Carrey plays Joel Barish, a bit of a loner and anxious person who happens to find love in an eccentric extrovert, Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet). When the relationship sours, Clementine rashly decides to have Joel erased from her memory. Literally. Joel retaliates in kind. But the night Stan (Mark Ruffalo) and Patrick (Elijah Wood) are ridding Clementine of Joel’s memory, Joel changes his mind and attempts to save her, if only in his memory. The story unfolds primarily in Joel’s mind, so the viewer must be alert. An inventive and funny movie, it often challenges our conception of love and happiness, of what’s important to hold on to in life and in memory.

8. Inglourious Basterds (Best of the Decade)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The best film of 2009, Inglourious Basterds is the result of Quentin Tarantino beating World War II to death with a baseball bat. The film is violent, funny, and suspenseful, and it is ultimately a grand example that any story, in the right hands, is filmic. With three great primary characters, Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), Col. Hans “The Jew Hunter” Landa (Christoph Waltz), and Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), Inglourious Basterds is an actor’s delight. Unlike so many movies based on historical events, in this case, the basterdization of history is admittedly obvious and not only accepted, but encouraged. It is just a movie, after all.

9. The Lord of the Rings (Best of the Decade)

The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), The Return of the King (2003)

Peter Jackson’s determination to shoot The Lord of the Rings movies was nothing if not the riskiest, boldest, and ultimately smartest cinematic decision of the decade. He wasn’t the first to shoot movie sequels back-to-back, but he was the first to do it on such a grand scale whilst ushering in a new age of technical breakthrough, making loads of money, and garnering critical and popular acclaim.

The first film in the series was released in 2001, and it is also the best. The Fellowship of the Ring introduces the audience to Middle Earth, a legendary ring, and merry little beings called hobbits. It’s such a wonder entering the world for the first time, meeting Gandalf the wizard (Ian McKellen) and the hobbit Bilbo (Ian Holm), whose nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood) is the protagonist of the story. It’s his job to carry the One Ring to Mordor and cast it into the fires of Mount Doom.

The Two Towers has the dubious distinction of being the middle chapter, and as a result it is the weakest of the three. This film introduces Gollum (Andy Serkis) as a major character. A motion-captured, computer-generated character, Gollum is what convinced James Cameron that the technology had advanced enough to make Avatar. Furthermore, the battle at Helm’s Deep near the end of the film is a grand set piece, and Jackson did a fine job filming a large action sequence while focusing on several primary characters.

                                               

The Return of the King is the final chapter, and it is the largest of the three in terms of story, action, and length. While Frodo inches closer to Mount Doom, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) tries to keep the forces of evil at bay in hopes of providing Frodo enough time to finish the deed. The heir to the throne of Gondor, Aragorn does fulfill the title’s promise. Upon its release, the film became infamous because it had several fade-outs and “end” scenes.

Each film was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in their respective year, with The Return of the King taking home the top prize and 11 Oscars total.

10. Unbreakable (Best of the Decade)

Unbreakable (2000)

Unbreakable gets better year by year, viewing by viewing. M. Night Shyamalan’s follow up to The Sixth Sense is a subtle and patient film, similar in tone if not content to Zodiac, and it is even more underrated. Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, whom we meet on a train traveling from New York to his home in Philadelphia. It derails and crashes, but Dunn is alive—unhurt—the sole survivor. He is approached by Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a comic book lover who has a rare disease that makes his bones as brittle as glass. Elijah asks him a simple question: when was the last time he was sick? The film is about David’s journey of self-realization, and the story slowly comes together, piece by piece. For all the money The Sixth Sense and Signs made, make no mistake: this is Shyamalan’s best film.

11. The Royal Tenenbaums (Best of the Decade)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

The Royal Tenenbaums is about a family of child prodigies about twenty years after the fact. The children reunite when their estranged father Royal (Gene Hackman) tells them that he’s dying of cancer and has only about six months to live. It’s a lie. Chas (Ben Stiller), the businessman and inventor, doesn’t care. Richie (Luke Wilson), the tennis star, cares about his father, but has his own problems to deal with. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), the playwright, is indifferent, but she’s only his adopted daughter, anyway. The children love their mother (Anjelica Huston), who nurtured their genius, but she has enough on her plate as well. Written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, the film has a perfect nuance to it—a symmetry of character and action. This was Anderson’s third film after Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, and with it he secured his role as one of the best and most unique directors working today.

12. Gangs of New York (Best of the Decade)

Gangs of New York (2002)

In Martin Scorsese’s first impressive film since 1995’s Casino, he cast Leonardo Dicaprio as a poor Irish-American youth returning to his old neighborhood in Civil War-time New York. Amsterdam (Dicaprio) has returned after growing up in an orphanage because Bill “The Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis in his first performance in five years) killed his father in a street brawl when he was a child. He wants to avenge his father’s murder. The film beautifully recreates the look and culture of nineteenth-century Manhattan. It was a time of rapid growth and urban development, but it was also a time of poverty, of war—of a draft—and of staunch cultural divides between not only black and white, but between immigrant and native born, between Irish, Italian, English, Chinese, and any other number of people. The film’s explosive opening and riotous ending are unique and well crafted. Nominated for 10 Oscars, the film won none.

13. Vanilla Sky (Best of the Decade)

Vanilla Sky (2001)

To all the people who said they didn’t understand Vanilla Sky: you simply weren’t watching closely enough. Based on the Spanish film Abre los ojos, Penélope Cruz reprises her role as Sofia, and Tom Cruise takes on the role of David Aames, heir to his father’s fortune and business as a successful publisher in New York City. The first half hour of the movie is a fairly typical romantic setup between the two, until Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz) unleashes her wrath on David. All hell breaks loose. The story is told in roundabout ways, including directly from David, who tells the prison therapist (Kurt Russell) how he ended up in jail. In typical Cameron Crowe fashion, pop music is a large part of the story, and he utilizes some songs well. In total, Vanilla Sky is a dreamscape of lost love, an unraveling of hope. And yes, it all makes sense in the end.

14. Closer (Best of the Decade)

Closer (2004)

Closer is a brutally honest albeit heightened examination of two couples (four couples?) in modern London. The film is about dialogue and relationships—about the difference between what people say and what they do. There are four main characters: two Englishmen, played by Jude Law and Clive Owen; and two American women, played Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman. Each character says precisely what they want to say, even if it isn’t precisely what they mean to say. Director Mike Nichols has helmed many great movies. His most famous is probably The Graduate (1967), and if you remember the ending of that movie then you have an idea of the complexity of relationships he works with. Originally written for the stage, Closer is exactly what you expect in terms of verbal sparring. The characters speak realistically, and nothing is held back. Each of the four actors holds their own, giving the slight edge to Portman and Owen, whom were nominated by the Academy for their performances.

15. Zodiac (Best of the Decade)

Zodiac (2007)

Much like Fight Club, David Fincher’s Zodiac was not given the recognition it deserved upon its release. Though it’s only been a few years, I already find that people are beginning to discover how brilliant and important this film is. Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist working at the San Francisco Chronicle who becomes obsessed with the letters and ciphers the Zodiac killer sends to the paper in the 1960s and 70s. Robert Downey, Jr. plays journalist Robert Avery and Mark Ruffalo portrays Dave Toschi, both men looking to solve the murders. The film is long and brooding, dark in tone and color, and patient. It is not about sensationalizing murder but instead about solving a puzzle, about mind games, about obsession by both a murderer and the people trying to catch him. It will have you on the edge of your seat more than once.

16. Requiem for a Dream (Best of Decade)

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Requiem for a Dream is a disturbing look into the world of addiction. From heroin to diet pills to television, Darren Aronovsky’s follow up to his break-out success Pi portrays hopeful people plummeting into physical and emotional depravity. The film follows a family of sorts: a mother (Ellen Burstyn) who spends her time watching T.V. and becomes hooked to diet pills and speed in hopes of looking good when she appears on her favorite show; her biological son and heroin addict, who steals her prized television to score a fix (Jared Leto), and his girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) and best friend (Marlon Wayans), both addicts. The film’s score is brilliant and instantly recognizable to anybody who has seen any number of trailers in the past decade. Aronofsky’s use of fast-cutting and what he calls hip-hop montages make for a fast and confused movie, as if he’d injected all 35mm with a cocktail of drugs himself.

17. Traffic (Best of the Decade)

Traffic (2000)

Steven Soderbergh kicked off the decade with a bang. With Erin Brockovich he directed Julia Roberts to an Academy Award, and he was nominated for Best Director for both Brockovich and Traffic, winning for the latter. Traffic is the better of the two, and it’s no surprise that a decade later many filmmakers are still trying to emulate Soderbergh’s unique photography. The film is set in Mexico and California and Washington, D.C. and Ohio, following the illegal drug trade from the cartels of Mexico and into the streets and homes of the United States. The interlocking stories work well, and there are great performances by probably a dozen actors, each with enough to do in a film with a lot of speaking roles and no clear protagonist. The best performance is by Benicio del Toro, who stood out in both The Usual Suspects and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but won an Oscar and a career for his role as Javier Rodriguez, an honest Mexican cop.

18. Moulin Rouge! (Best of the Decade)

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Moulin Rouge! kick started the current musical trend, and no other musical in the last decade had as much emotional impact or innovation. The film stars Ewan McGregor as Christian, a down-and-out writer in turn-of-the-century Paris who falls in love with a dancer at the Moulin Rouge, the beautiful Satine (Nicole Kidman). From the opening seconds of the film, we realize this is no ordinary musical. First, it is fast and confusing and about as avant-garde as mainstream films get. Second, the musical numbers are all pop songs infused into a foreign time and place. Moulin Rouge! was Baz Luhrmann’s follow up to Romeo + Juliet, another film that blurred the lines between what you see and what you hear. With Moulin Rouge! he not only gave us the best musical of the decade, but one of its best films. The Roxanne Tango is one of the best edited sequences I’ve seen on film.

19. The Aviator (Best of the Decade)

The Aviator (2004)

One of the best films of 2004, The Aviator was overshadowed by the overrated Million Dollar Baby and the awful Ray. Leonardo Dicaprio should have won an Oscar for his portrayal of Howard Hughes, the tortured drill bit magnet and filmmaker whose love of aviation and hatred of germs led to scrutiny by the media and the federal government. Martin Scorsese wisely focuses on Hughes’s genius and celebrity. Decades before he was the old recluse in Las Vegas, Hughes was the playboy of his generation, a pioneer of aviation, a fearless filmmaker, and a cutthroat businessman. Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for her portrayal of Katherine Hepburn, and key supporting roles by Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, and John C. Reilly fill out a terrific ensemble cast.

20. Amores perros (Best of the Decade)

Amores perros (2000)

Amores perros is a tour de force of love, loss, and redemption. The film contains three stories, each connected to a single car cash, and each including dogs as a central symbol of brutality and innocence, stability and fragility. The title is loosely translated as “Love’s a Bitch,” but I suspect it was unchanged for American release because that doesn’t sum it up as nicely as “amores perros,” which translates poorly and sounds mysterious to us English-speaking folk. The film is the directorial debut of Alejandro González Iñárritu, who completed his “trilogy” of films with 21 Grams and Babel. Iñárritu and his fellow countrymen Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro have secured modern Mexican film a place in the global film industry with regard to both artistic achievement and critical acclaim. Cuarón’s Y tu mama también and Children of Men and del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth are all contenders for many critics’ best of the decade list. However, I consider Amores perros the best of the bunch, and it is (regrettably) the only foreign-language film on my list.