Sin #4: Best of Decade

It’s hard to compile a list of my favorite films of the decade. There were many astounding works; some movies managed to tear the fabric of traditional storytelling and introduced new cinematic rules, others used their particular genres as a starting point and then took them to innovative regions thanks to the creativity and imagination of their makers.
The following are my personal top 20 in descending order:

#20: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut is a stunning western on the Mexican boarder. Written by Guillermo Arriaga (of “Amores Perros”, “21 Grams” and “Babel” fame), it portrays the unnecessary death of a good man and the unforgettable journey to bury him home. The film draws us in with fantastic characters and ends on a perfect note.

#19: The Departed
Even though it’s a remake, “The Departed” is a film brimming with tension and wit. If anything, it’s the movie that proved Leonardo Di Caprio can be a compelling actor and also the one to finally give an Oscar to its director Martin Scorsese. Thrillers don’t get better than this.

#18: Sweeney Todd
Here’s one of the best musicals of the decade and it’s populated by despicable characters and brewing with a lot of blood. The fantastic lyrics by Stephen Sondheim are perfectly captured by director Tim Burton who also draws brilliant performances by two of his favorite actors.
“Sweeney Todd” is operatic and tragic, but also mesmerizing entertainment.

#17: Volver
Not only is “Volver” my favorite Pedro Almodovar film, it’s also one of the warmest and most involving dramas I’ve ever seen. Featuring mostly a female cast, it brims with life thanks to astounding performances (especially from Penelope Cruz, who should have won the Oscar). It’s really incredible how Almodovar gambles with our expectations and delivers such fascinating melodrama.

#16: Sin City
“Sin City” might be the most faithful comic book adaptation ever made. It transforms the noir genre by taking everything to excess (especially the sex and violence). Robert Rodriguez co-directed with Frank Miller (the original author) and delivered a wild ride, that’s visually dazzling.

#15: The Dark Knight
Here’s the most ambitious superhero movie ever made. It features one of the defining villains of the decade (thanks to Heath Ledger’s amazing portrayal) and became proof that franchises can be revitalized (who would have thought it possible after the disastrous “Batman and Robin”?). “The Dark Knight” became the highest box-office grosser of the decade, deservedly so.

#14: Children of Men
The cinematography of “Children of Men” is really a sight to behold; featuring long, complicated takes, it’s really jaw-dropping how Alfonso Cuaron drops us in the middle of the action and never flinches. The film is smart and provocative science-fiction that’s eerily too close to home to be considered entirely fiction.

#13: Once
“Once” is a minimalistic masterpiece that features two natural and powerful performances and one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova aren’t professional actors but they deliver beautifully and the movie feels so authentic, we could almost believe it’s true.

#12: Inglourious Basterds
Tarantino’s WWII joyride is still fresh in my mind, and I confess I loved every minute of it. With a great script, phenomenal characters (the most memorable, without a doubt is Col. Landa) and another killer soundtrack, “Inglourious Basterds” delivers the most original and audacious WWII movie ever made.

#11: City of God
One leaves “City of God” with the satisfaction of reading a great book; there are so many characters and plot threads that sometimes it’s not easy to keep up. But Fernando Meirelles grabs us with a hyperkinetic style that makes the film unforgettable. This is definitely not a happy journey but it’s a jolting movie of great power.

#10: Adaptation
Charlie Kauffman is a great writer and with “Adaptation” he’s managed to produce a meta-reality movie that builds from real life only to take us to the rabbit hole of fiction. It’s really incredible how he plays with genres and manages to create an absorbing portrait of writers and their subjects. Filled with astounding performances, “Adaptation” is simply a sensational mind bender.

#9: Inland Empire
David Lynch delivered two astounding works in the decade (this one and Mulholland Dr.) but I chose “Inland Empire” because it’s 3 hours of pure Lynchian behavior at its best. It might not be easy to explain the plot but it doesn’t really matter since it’s really a hypnotic trip with a great performance from Lynch favorite, Laura Dern.

#8: Memento
Featuring one of the most ingenious narrative gimmicks of the decade, “Memento” is a thriller unlike any other. It takes us deep within the mind of a man with a peculiar condition (short term memory loss) and a journey to avenge his wife’s murder. Christopher Nolan’s movie is a diabolical ride that demands multiple viewings.

#7: Oldboy
“Oldboy” starts with an intriguing premise that evolves into a tragedy of greek proportions. The film is unlike any revenge story I’ve seen and at the end we find ourselves drained from the experience. This Korean import is brutal and powerful, a work of art that’s not for the faint of heart.

#6: Requiem for a Dream
No motion picture has captured the horrors of addiction as “Requiem for a Dream”, a tour-de-force of incredible editing, heartbreaking performances and a haunting soundtrack by Clint Mansell. The movie is an unforgettable journey that’s about as painful a movie as I have ever seen. But it’s a journey worth taking merely to witness the great style of its director, Darren Aronofsky.

#5: Spirited Away
This is one of the best animated features I’ve ever seen. No other animator captures the magic of childhood quite like Hayao Miyazaki, who always delivers extraordinary films (in this decade he also made “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Ponyo”) but “Spirited Away” is his masterpiece; it is visually enthralling and emotionally resonant, a movie for the ages.

#4: There Will be Blood
“There Will be Blood” features a ferocious and volcanic performance by Daniel Day Lewis, brilliant cinematography and a hypnotic soundtrack by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood. It is one of the most ambitious American films I’ve ever seen and certainly one of the most original. Paul Thomas Anderson burns the screen with amazing sequences.

#3: Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2
“Kill Bill” is one really long movie split into two volumes. It weaves different genres to create almost a love letter to cinema. Once again Tarantino is in top form delivering amazingly rich dialogue and a whole lot of violence (which is really over the top, sometimes to hilarious effect). While “Pulp Fiction” was his masterpiece in the 90’s, “Kill Bill” is his masterpiece in the 00s.

#2: Lord of the Rings Trilogy
While some might consider it cheating, I’ve rounded the three LotR movies as one since it’s really just one big story. The trilogy is an amazing achievement that managed to bring back credibility to the fantasy genre and introduce some of the best special effects in the business (especially with the creation of Gollum). These movies are already classics.

#1: Pan’s Labyrinth
It’s astonishing how Guillermo del Toro creates two parallel worlds in “Pan’s Labyrinth” and that they’re both equally compelling and powerful. It seems that with every movie del Toro brings an extraordinary creative force but with Pan he’s also delivered a great emotional impact. This is a beautiful, sad and endlessly imaginative fairy tale.