Saturday, January 30, 2010

Top 40 Films of the Decade

1. Memento (2000) dir. Christopher Nolan

Memento is an extraordinarily unique film in that it contains a surprise beginning! After learning the chronological finale of the story in the movie’s opening scene, the viewer is forced to discover the meaning behind the characters’ actions and motivations on the fly, much like the protagonist Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce). Leonard is in search of the man who raped and killed his wife, but there is a catch: he is unable to make new memories since that traumatic event took place. In order to keep his facts straight, he must tattoo them on his body and carry a pocket full of Polaroids. Suspenseful, philosophical, and complex, Memento not only rewards, but practically requires, repeated viewings.




2. Amores Perros (2000) dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu

Like the other two installments of director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “death trilogy”, Amores Perros introduces apparently unrelated characters and storylines and gradually shows how their paths converge. But unlike its inferior successors 21 Grams and Babel, Amores Perros privileges substance over style and skilled storytelling over postmodern pastiche. Each of the three stories within the movie could easily stand on its own, but Iñárritu’s masterpiece is greater than the sum of its parts.




3. There Will Be Blood (2007) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

On the surface, Anderson’s cinematic version of socialist muckraker Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil! shares little in common with its source material. But while Anderson borrows very sparingly from Sinclair’s didactic 1927 work, he expertly captures the condemnation of amoral greed that is at the novel’s core. Daniel Day-Lewis gives an outstanding portrayal of a self-made oil tycoon named Daniel Plainview. Johnny Greenwood’s score for the film is also top-notch.




4. Children Underground (2001) dir. Edet Belzberg

Romanian Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu found a way to increase the future workforce of his country: by outlawing birth control and abortion, and by encouraging Romanian families to have as many children as possible. He was executed before he could witness the long-term effects of this policy, but a little-known documentary called Children Underground gives us a glimpse into a Bucharest still suffering from the edicts of the former Communist regime. This underappreciated movie follows the lives of several homeless children living in a Romanian bus station. Watching a pre-teen boy franticly slicing his forearms with a razor blade on a park bench, or seeing a ten-year old girl comforting her crying eight year-old brother while they sleep on a piece of cardboard, will undoubtedly disturb any viewer, but this is a film that will stay with you long after the closing credits have ended.





5. Mulholland Drive (2001) dir. David Lynch

From 1977’s Eraserhead to the present, David Lynch has remained a controversial and divisive figure. The easiest way to find out where someone’s sympathies lie concerning Lynch’s body of work is to discover how he or she reacts to Mulholland Drive. It is more accessible and coherent than 2006’s Inland Empire, but viewers hoping to find a straightforward, more traditional narrative like Elephant Man will be thrown for a loop. If skeptics would put aside their distaste for Lynch and truly engage Mulholland Drive on its own terms, they would discover a mind-bending neo-noir critique of a Hollywood that preys on the aspirations of young women.




6. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007) dir. Cristian Mungiu

Amazingly enough, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days is the second film in my top ten that explores the horrific consequences of Communist Romania’s repressive law against birth control and abortion. Like Children Underground, Mungiu’s film is unsettling, bleak, and uncompromising. The film does not build up an ornate plot or employ a musical score. Instead, we get stellar acting, skillful directing, and an example of Romania’s revolutionary new cinema (if you still have doubts, just watch 2006’s 12:08 East of Bucharest).




7. Munich (2005) dir. Steven Spielberg

At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, a group of Palestinian terrorists calling themselves “Black September” targeted and murdered a group of Israeli athletes. In response, the Israeli government recruited an elite team of assassins to find and kill those who made the Munich massacre possible. In less capable hands, Spielberg’s Munich would have devolved into a trite action film trivializing the historical event, or it would have settled upon the banal observation that “an eye for an eye will make us all blind.” With the help of Tony Kushner’s impressive screenplay, however, Munich becomes a timely exploration of revenge and violence.





8. Borat (2006) dir. Larry Charles

The caricature of the bumbling foreign man bringing his strange customs to the shores of America is nothing new: just think of Balki Bartokomous, Yakov Smirnoff, or Eddie Murphy in Coming to America. What makes Borat so unique and brilliant is that the joke is on us, not on the foreign protagonist. When we laughed at Balki or Yakov, we reaffirmed our cultural superiority. Borat uses the immigrant foil to hold a mirror up to American society, and you may not like what you see.





9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) dir. Michel Gondry

It is somewhat ironic that two of the most memorable films of the 2000s are about forgetfulness and memory loss. Jim Carrey steps out of his element in Eternal Sunshine, and with great success. He plays Joel Barish, a man so unable to get over his love for his ex (played by Kate Winslet) that he begins treatment to have all of his unwanted memories permanently erased. With a great, off-beat script by Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine is undeniably a one-of-a-kind movie.




10. Jesus Camp (2006) dir. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

I think that Jesus Camp perfectly depicts the Culture War going on in post-9/11 America. It is very telling that this documentary has gained a major following amongst liberal viewers with its footage of Becky Fischer’s fundamentalist Christian summer camp in North Dakota, while at the same time it was praised by Fischer for accurately portraying the mission of her summer camp. The very fact that both sides of the argument embrace Jesus Camp shows just how large the ideological gap between evangelical Christians and secular liberals really is. One would be hard pressed, though, to find more than a handful of people who would look on favorably as a room of children pray to a life-size cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush. Or at least I hope so.





11. City of God (2002) dir. Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund




12. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) dir. Guillermo Del Toro




13. Rachel Getting Married (2008) dir. Jonathan Demme




14. Moolaadé (2004) dir. Ousmane Sembene




15. No Country for Old Men (2007) dir. Ethan and Joel Coen




16. Born Into Brothels (2004) dir. Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman




17. The Lives of Others (2006) dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck




18. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) dir. Ken Loach




19. The Take (2004) dir. Avi Lewis




20. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) dir. Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan




21. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) dir. Julian Schnabel




22. Half Nelson (2006) dir. Ryan Fleck




23. The Departed (2006) dir. Martin Scorsese




24. Inglorious Basterds (2009) dir. Quentin Tarantino




25. United 93 (2006) dir. Paul Greengrass




26. The Hangover (2009) dir. Todd Phillips




27. Children of Men (2006) dir. Alfonso Cuarón




28. Waltz With Bashir (2008) dir. Ari Folman




29. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) dir. Alfonso Cuarón




30. Dead Man's Shoes (2004) dir. Shane Meadows




31. Sideways (2004) dir. Alexander Payne




32. Inland Empire (2006) dir. David Lynch




33. Chop Shop (2007) dir. Ramin Bahrani




34. Milk (2008) dir. Gus Van Sant




35. The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008) dir. Uli Edel




36. Adaptation (2002) dir. Spike Jonze




37. Caché (2005) dir. Michael Haneke




38. The Son (2002) dir. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne




39. The Wrestler (2008) dir. Darren Aronofsky




40. Storytelling (2001) dir. Todd Solondz


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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Top 40 Albums of the Decade

1. Joanna Newsom - Ys (2006)
[Unavailable on Lala.com]
Joanna Newsom is not the kind of artist about whom you can be indifferent: you either love her music or you detest it. Obviously, I fall into the former category. Many of the vocal quirks and idiosyncrasies are as present on Ys as they were on 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender, but this time around Newsom seems more ambitious and focused. All of the album's five songs approach or surpass the ten-minute mark, and Newsom greatly benefits from a seasoned supporting cast which includes Steve Albini, Van Dyke Parks, and Bill Callahan. As amazing as the orchestral flourishes of the album-opener "Emily" are, it's the simplicity of her solo performance on "Sawdust and Diamonds" that keeps me returning to this one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

2. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan (2003)
Contrarian music critics will often try to surprise and shock when compiling lists, deliberately choosing the less-popular or lesser-acclaimed albums of an artist in order to demonstrate the singularity of his or her taste. Although Illinois is almost universally proclaimed as Sufjan Stevens' best work to date, I assure you that I did not choose Greetings From Michigan just to be different. I believe Stevens' tribute to his home-state is a more consistent and enjoyable experience than its more-heralded follow-up. From the opening track onwards, Sufjan's genuine love for The Great Lake State shines through. His ability to capture the atmosphere and uniqueness of Michigan make this so much more than just a small installment in his (somewhat gimmicky) "50 States Project".

3. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)
Much like William Basinski's Disintegration Loops, Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago is an album that is inseparable from its back-story. The album was the culmination of front-man Justin Vernon's self-imposed exile in a Wisconsin cabin. With scant recording equipment and the still-fresh wounds of a recent break-up, Vernon managed to produce a lyrical, atmospheric meditation on love and loss.

4. Antony & The Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now (2005)
In a decade known for hipster irony, Antony Hegarty stood out with his unabashedly sincere, emotional music. While most artists known for gender-bending androgyny do so for shock value or camp humor, I Am a Bird Now explores topics like same-sex domestic violence, anxiety about death, and transgendered identity. Even though the album is packed with impressive guest appearances, it never loses its very personal focus. "Hope There's Someone" and "Man Is The Baby" are among the decade's most memorable songs.

5. Scott Walker - The Drift (2006)
Scott Walker's album The Drift is a darker, more brutal album than any death metal or black metal album could ever hope to be. It's hard to imagine that Walker was once a member of the 1960s heart-throb boy band The Walker Brothers. This album (and, to a lesser extent, its 1995 predecessor Tilt) not only makes a radical break with his past, but also makes a radical break with all of modern popular music. The album is unsettling and disturbing, with braying donkeys and fists pounding on meat (really!) serving as background noise for Walker's misanthropic poetry.

6. M.I.A. - Kala (2007)
Super-producer Diplo provided the perfect soundscape for M.I.A.'s diverse and widely acclaimed album Kala. Unlike Devendra Banhart's What Will We Be (2009), M.I.A.'s eclecticism on this album seems natural and earnest instead of showy. This really feels like global music with an edge, not like a Putumayo compilation CD pre-sanitized for Western ears. M.I.A. is at once sexual, political, and funky, and it would be no shock to see her dominate the next decade as well.

7. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)
The self-titled Fleet Foxes album appeared in 2008, but one could imagine it being composed by a contemporary of The Byrds or Brian Wilson. The first decade of the twenty-first century was no stranger to bands playing "retro" music and constructing songs that were dead ringers for music popular decades ago. What made Fleet Foxes so different is that they are gifted musicians and skilled songwriters who truly respect--and not just ape--the great bands of the past. There's something timeless about the beauty of songs like "He Doesn't Know Why" and "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" that make the term "60s revivalist folk rock" sound reductive and insufficient to explain the artistry of Fleet Foxes.

8. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic (2009)
The Flaming Lips had a pretty sweet situation going into 2009. They were known for their amazing live show theatrics, their large catalog of indie classics, and their wacky psychedelic rock. That makes Embryonic all the more surprising and impressive. This album was a complete about-face compared to The Lips' previous output. The light, optimistic tone of their early work is noticeably missing. Both lyrically and musically, Embryonic seems darker, like the soundtrack to a bad acid trip. For a band usually known for their singles (e.g., "She Don't Use Jelly") and anthems (e.g., "Do You Realize?"), this is an album that must be absorbed in its entirety.

9. Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele (2000)
Let's be honest: this was not a good decade for hip hop. Even the album on which Nas proclaimed the genre to be dead was sub-par. Whereas the 1990s gave rise to innumerable classics (many of which were connected to the Wu Tang Clan), the Aughts produced surprisingly few memorable albums. Long after most of his Wu Tang alum had fallen off, Ghostface Killah has remained the only consistent, innovative member of the former super-group. The outstanding achievement of 2000's Supreme Clientele gave hip hop fanatics hope for the new millenium. It wasn't so much a revision of the Wu Tang formula, but rather just a perfection of a formula that already worked. The combination of stellar production, strong guest appearances by various Wu members, and plenty of indecipherable Ghostface street slang was a recipe for success.

10. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
Kid A - Radiohead
It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of Radiohead's Kid A. The stylistic shift was so radical that at first Radiohead seemed to be deliberately antagonizing their fans. Guitars and drums gave way to electronics and drum-machines. Thom Yorke's familiar voice was now digitally manipulated. Sure, the album had a few missteps ("Treefingers" immediately comes to mind), but it's difficult to think of a song that more accurately represents the decade than "Idioteque".

11. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)


12. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House (2006)
[This album is not available on Lala.com]


13. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (2007)


14. Portishead - Third (2008)


15. Esperanza Spalding - Esperanza (2008)


16. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)


17. Dead Prez - Let's Get Free (2000)


18. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - Segu Blue (2007)


19. Björk - Medulla (2004)


20. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjum (2000)


21. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (2005)


22. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)


23. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)
[This album is not available on Lala.com]


24. TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)


25. Four Tet - Rounds (2003)


26. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (2009)


27. Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner (2003)


28. Burial - Untrue (2007)


29. Deerhunter - Weird Era Cont. (2008)


30. Ani DiFranco - Reprieve (2006)


31. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)


32. Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor (2006)



33. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (2007)



34. Sunn O))) - Black One (2005)



35. Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)



36. Scarface - The Fix (2002)



37. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal (2006)



38. Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (2008)



39. Common - Be (2005)



40. Robert Grasper - In My Element (2007)
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