Best of the Last Decade

MOVIES

Gideon's Daughter
Traffic
Sideways
No Country for Old Men
Talk to Her
Little Miss Sunshine
Ghost World
Rivers and Tides
Crash
Lost in Translation
Touch the Sound
Memento

After posting today (3/26/10) to the blog the best of the 90s, with honorable mentions, I decided to add an honorable mentions list for the last decade:
Inside Man, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Edge of Heaven, Anniversary Party, The Hours, The Deep End and The Wrestler.

The best movie of the decade is Gideon's Daughter. A central element in this movie deals with a parent's two most, but equally, important responsibilities: protecting children to keep them safe and letting them go to help them become independent. This was a BBC production made for tv in 2005. The brilliant cast includes Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Miranda Richardson. Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt each won Golden Globes. The soundtrack is also extraordinary.


TV

Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
Mad Men
Real Time with Bill Maher
Nurse Jackie

Two Big Disappointments + a Gem

The two movies I anticipated the most last month were big disaappointments. Up in the Air - poof. Crazy Heart looked like a sure bet, but where's the story? Both of these movies involve a detached, vacant guy who seems to realize at the end of the movie that he's got no life. mmm. Crazy Heart showed up with Jeff Bridges, country music and the wide open spaces of the southwest and I was pumped up thinking about an old favorite of mine, Payday with Rip Torn, but it's not in the same league with that cult classic from 1972. Then there's La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet. Go see this lengthy but absorbing film, beautifully shot and edited with Paris never looking better.