hammersavage
08-30-2009, 08:58 PM
Well, the decade is drawing to a close. Just a few more months and its 2010. That means it’s list time.
Here are my picks for the best albums, movies (drama and comedy), and TV shows of the past decade (2000-2009). I wanted to include sports moments but my bias and hatred would have made it too slanted. Feel free to choose your own or create your own category.
I arbitrarily decided how many I would pick.
Top 30 Albums:
1-Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: My favorite album from my favorite band. Lyrically, musically, it moves me like only a few albums ever have. A beautiful Americana album that came out shortly after 9/11, that gave it a unique context.
2-Radiohead-Kid A: Almost had the best album in consecutive decades.
3-Beck-Sea Change: The ultimate break-up album.
4-And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead-Source Tags and Codes
5-My Morning Jacket-Z
6-The Strokes-Is This It?: The album that defined the rebirth of garage rock.
7-Arcade Fire-Neon Bible
8-Interpol-Turn On The Bright Lights
9-Radiohead-In Rainbows
10- Ted Leo and the Pharmacists-Shake the Sheets
11-New Pornographers-Twin Cinema
12-The Decemberists-Castaways and Cutouts
13- Broken Social Scene-You Forgot It In People
14-U2-All That You Can’t Leave Behind
15-The White Stripes-Elephant
16-Bloc Party-Silent Alarm
17-Arcade Fire-Funeral
18-The Hold Steady-Stuck Between Stations
19-The White Stripes-Get Behind Me Satan
20-The Shins-Chutes Too Narrow
21-Spoon-GaGaGaGaGa
22-OutKast-Stankonia
23-The Black Keys-Attack and Release
24-Queens of the Stone Age-Songs for the Deaf
25-Cymbals Eat Guitars-Why There Are Mountains
26-Kanye West-The College Dropout
27-Arctic Monkeys-Whatever People Say That I Am, That’s What I’m Not
28-Pearl Jam-Pearl Jam
29-Fountains of Wayne-Welcome Interstate Managers
30-Jay Reatard-Blood Visions
Top 40 Movies (drama):
1-Almost Famous: The best movie of the 2000’s because it, more than almost any other film I’ve seen, completely understands how it feels to be in love with music while reminding me of why I love film at the same time. An incredibly personal story that could resonate with anyone who has ever been taken somewhere by music. Great music, great performances. It’s funny and touching and infinitely rewatchable. (this was my choice long before Bill Simmons picked it, I swear)
2-City of God: The story of youth gangs in the slums of Rio de Janiero that is amongst the best crime drama’s of all time. It delves into impoverished areas that are both disturbing and picturesque in a manner that has rarely been captured on screen.
3- There Will Be Blood: The performance of the decade and maybe Daniel Day Lewis’ best, which says a lot. Paul Thomas Anderson created a masterpiece about a greed filled madman that was taught with tension, beautiful landscapes and a brilliant score. It has it all.
4- Gangs of New York: Scorsese’s best film since Goodfellas to date. Created this world of the Five Points that was vast and exciting and brutal and brought you right into the middle of it.
5- The Motorcycle Diaries: A biopic and a road trip movie shot with epic scope. Two friends set off on a motorcycle to travel across South America. By the time its over, one would become one of the most famous revolutionaries of the century. Just a truly gorgeous, thought provoking flick.
6-Capote: A first time feature film director, beautiful Midwestern landscapes, a great performance. Another notch on Philip Seymour Hoffman’s belt, such a precise performance of a well known character.
7-Children of Men: A brilliant dystopian movie. Some of the greatest camera work ever in film (the single-shot battle scene in particular).
8-Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Based on the memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the film is shown from his point of view- ‘locked in syndrome’, a condition in which he is almost totally paralyzed (use of one eye) but mentally intact. With just one eye, the guy wrote his memoirs. Either completely depressing or uplifting, depending on your perspective.
9-Pan’s Labyrinth: A fairytale full of CGI creatures, puppetry and elaborate sets. Not many films have such a elaborate visual style. One of the truly gorgeous films ever made.
10-No Country for Old Men: A character driven film about human nature and morality. It takes multiple viewings for the themes and meaning to set in. Maybe the Coen brothers most complete work.
11-A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints: A personal story of what it was like to grow up in Astoria, Queens in the 80’s. Really shows what effect friends, even the misguided ones, have on your life.
12- Memento: Never really seen story telling in quite this way. An ingenious plot device to show the film backwards. But its not just a gimmick, it’s a well crafted thriller.
13-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: A movie about romance that isn’t a romantic comedy and about memory that isn’t sappy. Hard to pull off but it does. Best film written by Charlie Kaufman.
14-Into the Wild: Breathtaking landscapes of America, the sweet voice of Eddie Vedder to go along for the ride, and a fantastic performance I didn’t see coming.
15-Mystic River: Yea Mojo, fuck you.
16-American Splendor: Didn’t know Harvey Pekar going into the movie but found the story fascinating. The mix of animation with live action is great. Paul Giamatti gives a superb performance.
17- Little Children: Todd Field’s follow up to In The Bedroom is another haunting look at suburban life. Character driven led by performances from Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley who began a comeback in this fantastic, menacing role.
18-Adaptation: Another Charlie Kaufman piece of brilliance. The times I want to swear off Nic Cage forever, I remember performances like this and realize what he has in him when he puts his mind to it. Strange, funny, well acted.
19-Milk: Deserved to win Best Picture. A great story finally got the script that had been plaguing it for years and when paired up with a great director and one of the finest actors ever, it was bound to be a classic.
20-Zodiac: A true story about a serial killer that is never caught sounds like a film with no payoff. But David Fincher built a tension for two and a half hours that left you drained by the end. Perfect tone, great cast, a real adult thriller.
21-Traffic: A precursor to films like Crash and Babel that showed an incident or issue from multiple perspectives, this film succeeded the best as a film by far. Where those other films are preachy or heavy handed, Traffic is tense and powerful throughout.
22-Inglourious Basterds: A revenge film in an alternate universe. Tarantino’s most complete film since Pulp Fiction.
23-O’ Brother Where Art Thou?: A loose adaptation of the Odyssey that is both hilarious and epic. The first feature film to be entirely color corrected digitally giving it that incredible cinematography. A mix of folk, bluegrass, ‘old timey music’ compliment the film perfectly.
24- In The Bedroom: Another Todd Field masterpiece about a true tragedy of the American family. A great study in grief and how a family deals (or struggles to deal more appropriately) with death.
25-Michael Clayton: A tense thriller for adults. Not action packed but well composed, well acted and smart.
26-In Bruges: A true dark comedy that tells the story of two hitmen hiding out in Belgium. Very funny and unexpectedly beautiful. Bruges looks like a great place to hide (under better circumstances of course).
27-Road to Perdition: Brought some life to the tired gangster genre. Fantastic cinematography.
28-This Is England: Delved into a subculture I never really knew before-British skinheads in the early 1980’s. A moving, and at times funny film.
29- Little Miss Sunshine: A lot of films in the later half of the decade fell too far into ‘indie quirk’. Little Miss Sunshine certainly has its share, but is darkly comedic and well acted enough to rise above.
30-Sideways: Alexander Payne’s most complete film, a buddy road trip movie that isn’t sophomoric. Just a sophisticated, intelligent, humorous adult movie.
31-Dark Knight: Not a great superhero film, but a great film. Period. Doesn’t need any qualifiers. A crime drama on the highest level with one of the decades best performances.
32-LOTR Trilogy: I count the three films together. Separately, they are still impressive. But collectively, its as epic as filmmaking has ever been.
33-Good Night, and Good Luck: At a time of almost zero media responsibility, it was both refreshing (and frustrating) to see the way Murrow took on McCarthyism. Strathairn gives a great performance.
34- Jarhead: Not quite as good as the book it’s based on, but I think it hits on enough points.
35-Atonement: The age old story of star crossed lovers that ends tragically as so many do. One of the great and most complex tracking shots ever captured on film.
36-Minority Report: That’s right Ronnie B! Sure, precogs are absurd. But if you make the sci-fi leap, it works as a brilliant story of the morality of free will vs fate. The look is a gorgeous mix of shadows and overlighting, a futuristic noir.
37-Big Fish: A grown up fairytale that works as a father-son story. When Will takes his father to the river for the last time, Niagara Falls Frankie angel.
38-Alpha Dog: A movie that showed that Emile Hirsh and Justin Timberlake can act has to be good.
39-Donnie Darko: For Sparkle Motion alone.
40-High Fidelity: Not a romantic comedy exactly, but more of a comedy about romance through music.
Top 10 Movies (comedy):
I could try to explain why these are the top 10, why I find them funny. But comedy is all about perspective. Some people don’t find Monty Python funny. Some people hate dick jokes.
1-Superbad
2- Anchorman
3-Wet Hot American Summer
4-The Royal Tenenbaums
5- Wedding Crashers
6-About a Boy
7-Shaun of the Dead
8-Old School
9-The 40 Year Old Virgin
10- The Foot Fist Way
Top 20 TV Shows:
1-The Wire: Not the best of the decade, the best of all time. The great American story.
2-Arrested Development: Most brilliantly written comedy ever.
3- The Office (UK)
4- Band of Brothers
5-Mad Men
6- 30 Rock
7-The Sopranos
8-Lost
9-Undeclared: Wanted to include Freaks and Geeks but 5 episodes aired in ’99. But this show was great too.
10-Breaking Bad
11-Deadwood
12-Rescue Me
13-Curb Your Enthusiasm
14-Dexter
15-The Daily Show
16-Flight of the Conchords
17-How I Met Your Mother
18-Entourage (half of it anyway)
19-The Shield
20-Pushing Daisies
Now go ahead. Tell me how my opinion is wrong and yours is so much better.
Here are my picks for the best albums, movies (drama and comedy), and TV shows of the past decade (2000-2009). I wanted to include sports moments but my bias and hatred would have made it too slanted. Feel free to choose your own or create your own category.
I arbitrarily decided how many I would pick.
Top 30 Albums:
1-Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: My favorite album from my favorite band. Lyrically, musically, it moves me like only a few albums ever have. A beautiful Americana album that came out shortly after 9/11, that gave it a unique context.
2-Radiohead-Kid A: Almost had the best album in consecutive decades.
3-Beck-Sea Change: The ultimate break-up album.
4-And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead-Source Tags and Codes
5-My Morning Jacket-Z
6-The Strokes-Is This It?: The album that defined the rebirth of garage rock.
7-Arcade Fire-Neon Bible
8-Interpol-Turn On The Bright Lights
9-Radiohead-In Rainbows
10- Ted Leo and the Pharmacists-Shake the Sheets
11-New Pornographers-Twin Cinema
12-The Decemberists-Castaways and Cutouts
13- Broken Social Scene-You Forgot It In People
14-U2-All That You Can’t Leave Behind
15-The White Stripes-Elephant
16-Bloc Party-Silent Alarm
17-Arcade Fire-Funeral
18-The Hold Steady-Stuck Between Stations
19-The White Stripes-Get Behind Me Satan
20-The Shins-Chutes Too Narrow
21-Spoon-GaGaGaGaGa
22-OutKast-Stankonia
23-The Black Keys-Attack and Release
24-Queens of the Stone Age-Songs for the Deaf
25-Cymbals Eat Guitars-Why There Are Mountains
26-Kanye West-The College Dropout
27-Arctic Monkeys-Whatever People Say That I Am, That’s What I’m Not
28-Pearl Jam-Pearl Jam
29-Fountains of Wayne-Welcome Interstate Managers
30-Jay Reatard-Blood Visions
Top 40 Movies (drama):
1-Almost Famous: The best movie of the 2000’s because it, more than almost any other film I’ve seen, completely understands how it feels to be in love with music while reminding me of why I love film at the same time. An incredibly personal story that could resonate with anyone who has ever been taken somewhere by music. Great music, great performances. It’s funny and touching and infinitely rewatchable. (this was my choice long before Bill Simmons picked it, I swear)
2-City of God: The story of youth gangs in the slums of Rio de Janiero that is amongst the best crime drama’s of all time. It delves into impoverished areas that are both disturbing and picturesque in a manner that has rarely been captured on screen.
3- There Will Be Blood: The performance of the decade and maybe Daniel Day Lewis’ best, which says a lot. Paul Thomas Anderson created a masterpiece about a greed filled madman that was taught with tension, beautiful landscapes and a brilliant score. It has it all.
4- Gangs of New York: Scorsese’s best film since Goodfellas to date. Created this world of the Five Points that was vast and exciting and brutal and brought you right into the middle of it.
5- The Motorcycle Diaries: A biopic and a road trip movie shot with epic scope. Two friends set off on a motorcycle to travel across South America. By the time its over, one would become one of the most famous revolutionaries of the century. Just a truly gorgeous, thought provoking flick.
6-Capote: A first time feature film director, beautiful Midwestern landscapes, a great performance. Another notch on Philip Seymour Hoffman’s belt, such a precise performance of a well known character.
7-Children of Men: A brilliant dystopian movie. Some of the greatest camera work ever in film (the single-shot battle scene in particular).
8-Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Based on the memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the film is shown from his point of view- ‘locked in syndrome’, a condition in which he is almost totally paralyzed (use of one eye) but mentally intact. With just one eye, the guy wrote his memoirs. Either completely depressing or uplifting, depending on your perspective.
9-Pan’s Labyrinth: A fairytale full of CGI creatures, puppetry and elaborate sets. Not many films have such a elaborate visual style. One of the truly gorgeous films ever made.
10-No Country for Old Men: A character driven film about human nature and morality. It takes multiple viewings for the themes and meaning to set in. Maybe the Coen brothers most complete work.
11-A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints: A personal story of what it was like to grow up in Astoria, Queens in the 80’s. Really shows what effect friends, even the misguided ones, have on your life.
12- Memento: Never really seen story telling in quite this way. An ingenious plot device to show the film backwards. But its not just a gimmick, it’s a well crafted thriller.
13-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: A movie about romance that isn’t a romantic comedy and about memory that isn’t sappy. Hard to pull off but it does. Best film written by Charlie Kaufman.
14-Into the Wild: Breathtaking landscapes of America, the sweet voice of Eddie Vedder to go along for the ride, and a fantastic performance I didn’t see coming.
15-Mystic River: Yea Mojo, fuck you.
16-American Splendor: Didn’t know Harvey Pekar going into the movie but found the story fascinating. The mix of animation with live action is great. Paul Giamatti gives a superb performance.
17- Little Children: Todd Field’s follow up to In The Bedroom is another haunting look at suburban life. Character driven led by performances from Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley who began a comeback in this fantastic, menacing role.
18-Adaptation: Another Charlie Kaufman piece of brilliance. The times I want to swear off Nic Cage forever, I remember performances like this and realize what he has in him when he puts his mind to it. Strange, funny, well acted.
19-Milk: Deserved to win Best Picture. A great story finally got the script that had been plaguing it for years and when paired up with a great director and one of the finest actors ever, it was bound to be a classic.
20-Zodiac: A true story about a serial killer that is never caught sounds like a film with no payoff. But David Fincher built a tension for two and a half hours that left you drained by the end. Perfect tone, great cast, a real adult thriller.
21-Traffic: A precursor to films like Crash and Babel that showed an incident or issue from multiple perspectives, this film succeeded the best as a film by far. Where those other films are preachy or heavy handed, Traffic is tense and powerful throughout.
22-Inglourious Basterds: A revenge film in an alternate universe. Tarantino’s most complete film since Pulp Fiction.
23-O’ Brother Where Art Thou?: A loose adaptation of the Odyssey that is both hilarious and epic. The first feature film to be entirely color corrected digitally giving it that incredible cinematography. A mix of folk, bluegrass, ‘old timey music’ compliment the film perfectly.
24- In The Bedroom: Another Todd Field masterpiece about a true tragedy of the American family. A great study in grief and how a family deals (or struggles to deal more appropriately) with death.
25-Michael Clayton: A tense thriller for adults. Not action packed but well composed, well acted and smart.
26-In Bruges: A true dark comedy that tells the story of two hitmen hiding out in Belgium. Very funny and unexpectedly beautiful. Bruges looks like a great place to hide (under better circumstances of course).
27-Road to Perdition: Brought some life to the tired gangster genre. Fantastic cinematography.
28-This Is England: Delved into a subculture I never really knew before-British skinheads in the early 1980’s. A moving, and at times funny film.
29- Little Miss Sunshine: A lot of films in the later half of the decade fell too far into ‘indie quirk’. Little Miss Sunshine certainly has its share, but is darkly comedic and well acted enough to rise above.
30-Sideways: Alexander Payne’s most complete film, a buddy road trip movie that isn’t sophomoric. Just a sophisticated, intelligent, humorous adult movie.
31-Dark Knight: Not a great superhero film, but a great film. Period. Doesn’t need any qualifiers. A crime drama on the highest level with one of the decades best performances.
32-LOTR Trilogy: I count the three films together. Separately, they are still impressive. But collectively, its as epic as filmmaking has ever been.
33-Good Night, and Good Luck: At a time of almost zero media responsibility, it was both refreshing (and frustrating) to see the way Murrow took on McCarthyism. Strathairn gives a great performance.
34- Jarhead: Not quite as good as the book it’s based on, but I think it hits on enough points.
35-Atonement: The age old story of star crossed lovers that ends tragically as so many do. One of the great and most complex tracking shots ever captured on film.
36-Minority Report: That’s right Ronnie B! Sure, precogs are absurd. But if you make the sci-fi leap, it works as a brilliant story of the morality of free will vs fate. The look is a gorgeous mix of shadows and overlighting, a futuristic noir.
37-Big Fish: A grown up fairytale that works as a father-son story. When Will takes his father to the river for the last time, Niagara Falls Frankie angel.
38-Alpha Dog: A movie that showed that Emile Hirsh and Justin Timberlake can act has to be good.
39-Donnie Darko: For Sparkle Motion alone.
40-High Fidelity: Not a romantic comedy exactly, but more of a comedy about romance through music.
Top 10 Movies (comedy):
I could try to explain why these are the top 10, why I find them funny. But comedy is all about perspective. Some people don’t find Monty Python funny. Some people hate dick jokes.
1-Superbad
2- Anchorman
3-Wet Hot American Summer
4-The Royal Tenenbaums
5- Wedding Crashers
6-About a Boy
7-Shaun of the Dead
8-Old School
9-The 40 Year Old Virgin
10- The Foot Fist Way
Top 20 TV Shows:
1-The Wire: Not the best of the decade, the best of all time. The great American story.
2-Arrested Development: Most brilliantly written comedy ever.
3- The Office (UK)
4- Band of Brothers
5-Mad Men
6- 30 Rock
7-The Sopranos
8-Lost
9-Undeclared: Wanted to include Freaks and Geeks but 5 episodes aired in ’99. But this show was great too.
10-Breaking Bad
11-Deadwood
12-Rescue Me
13-Curb Your Enthusiasm
14-Dexter
15-The Daily Show
16-Flight of the Conchords
17-How I Met Your Mother
18-Entourage (half of it anyway)
19-The Shield
20-Pushing Daisies
Now go ahead. Tell me how my opinion is wrong and yours is so much better.