Having now revealed my list for the Best Films of the Decade, I’d like to take a moment to say a few last things about the films on it as well as address some general comments from readers regarding the list.
One detail a few readers took issue with was my placement of both Kill Bill films and all three Lord of the Rings films on the list. These people have argued that this is “cheating,” and I should pick one film from each series for inclusion on the list. While I do concede that there are differences in tone and plot for both halves of Kill Bill and each film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I do not believe the differences are stark enough to warrant separation on a list such as this one. Both Kill Bill and Lord of the Rings were conceived as single projects and filmed together. In the years to come, they will be remembered together, not separately. Without its companion film to complement it, neither Kill Bill film is as strong as the whole, and Lord of the Rings similarly works best when approached as one three-part epic.
Regarding Adaptation, I have a few reasons for giving it the top spot aside from the arguments I make in the review. More so than any other film on the list, Adaptation embodies a self-awareness that is very much a product of our time. Thanks to the popularity of behind-the-scenes DVD features and widespread availability of the Internet, moviegoers are becoming increasingly aware of the filmmaking process. Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze allow their film to adopt this self-consciousness and then they have fun with it. From a more personal perspective, Adaptation was the film that turned my interest in movies into an unabashed love of movies. It is the one film I continue to return to, always finding something new to appreciate in it, and that is the mark of a truly great film.
Keep in mind that these are only my personal choices and not an objective study of the last decade in cinema. Feel free to post a comment below including your choices for the decade’s best, or any other comments/gripes about my own list. Below is an aesthetically pleasing list of my choices from one to ten. Comment away!
1) Adaptation
2) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3) No Country For Old Men
4) The Departed
5) There Will Be Blood
6) A History of Violence
7) Requiem For a Dream
8) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9) 25th Hour
10) Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2
- Steve Avigliano, 2/16/10
steve, you keep accidentally calling Wicker Man "Adaptation." i can understand your mistake, they're both Nick Cage flicks, but you meant to say Wicker Man in that last post. and this one.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies, Ray. This is very embarrassing. It seems I also posted the wrong picture in that review. I meant to post this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.biggerpills.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/not_the_bees.jpg
Thanks for catching this!