The 20 best movies of the decade

I love movies, you love movies, let's talk about the twenty best movies of the past ten years:


1. There will be blood
Daniel day Lewis just rips the heart out of his acting peers and drinks their milkshake. I have watched this movie over ten times and I am continually blown away at the portrayal of an ambitious man who can barely contain his disgust for.............."people." I love the way this movie is shot, the subplot with the preacher, and the long periods of quiet. The best movie of the past ten years.

2. The Departed
This movie is like I died and went to movie heaven. You have a Scorsese picture dealing with the Irish Mafia that stars my favorite actor, Jack Nicholson. I love the music, the pace and the performances of Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. I remember seeing this movie in the theaters and listening to Jack's opening lines........."twenty years after an Irishman couldn't get a job in this city, we had the Presidency. That's the thing nobody tells you, you can be anything you want to be. But if you want something, you have to take it, nobody gives it to you."

3. Grizzly Man
I am transfixed by this movie and watch it whenever it is on T.V. To see a man completely go off the rails and film himself patting bears on the head and talking to them is theater of the absurd. Timmothy Treadwell was a self-made reality star who achieved the fame he sought in his life with his brutal death. He shot really beautiful home movies of the wilds of Alaska. This is an incredible documentary that is really a meditation on one man's search for meaning in this world.

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A great script about a great idea. Would you pay to have painful memories erased from your mind? What do we learn by living with pain? You have a film that comes close to showing the mind-bending emotional roller coaster of loving someone and than losing that someone you love. Kate Winslet is just naturally beautiful in this movie.

5. No Country for old Men
Good God I love this movie. The haunting final monologue from Tommy Lee Jones is off the charts. I have rewound the movie and watched the end of this flick countless times. If you don't like this movie it is hard for me to even talk to you! There is not a false moment in this film, so call it, frienddo

6. Lost in Translation
I remember exactly where I was when I fell in love with Scarlet Johanson. I was below deck, on a boat in Indonesian, watching a bootlegged copy of this movie. The opening shot of Scarlet is legendary and Bill Murray is just so real in this flick. This movie is like life, at times funny, sad, sweet and absurd. Bill Murray calling his wife to tell her that he was partying with Japanese surfers-enough said.

7. Into the Wild
No movie of the past decade has affected me more than this masterpiece. I cried all during this movie and it was hard for me talk at the end of it. Amina and I just sat and cried together through the credits and we were still crying when the house lights came up. I read this book in college and I have been profoundly moved by the life of Alexander Supertramp. My favorite scene in this movie is when Alex calmly turns around to watch a pack of wolves devour the moose he has just shot. Sean Penn just nails this movie.

8. Half Nelson
A film that portrays the small time frustration of being a teacher. Ryan Gosling knows the way teachers talk, they way they think, and the slow drip sadness of wasting time in the schoolhouse. He is a lost man teaching in a lost world.

9. Borat
This is the funniest and the most inventive movie of the past ten years. Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius and his creation and execution of Borat as he rambles through American is incredible. He is able to subvert racism, sexism, political correctness's, patriotism and W's America. When Borat goes for a ride with a bunch of drunk frat cats we are staring into the abyss of Americas dark soul.

10. Traffic
How do you stop America's insatiable appetite for drugs? This flicks is amazing for it's use of three different story lines as we watch a small time cop in Mexico all the way to the halls of power in DC. I love the scene where you have real Senators discussing the war on drugs at a cocktail party.

11. Man on a Wire
Another great documentary that shows you how one man was able to tightrope walk across the twin towers. The shots of him laying down on the rope as he was suspended over NYC are truly unbelievable. This is a fascinating film dealing with sneaking into the twin towers to create ultimate mischief.

12. Training Day
"King Kong don't have nothing on me" Denzel is just let off the chain as he completely owns this performance with his swagger and his smile. If only cops in real life were as cool as Denzel. "You're in the office baby"

13. Match Point
Does life really come down to a series of near misses? Does fate really exist or are we just stumbling blindly around this world. I love this movie for the natural feel of the relationships and of course for the stunning beauty of Scarlet.

14. High Fidelity
A classic film that is all about the mix tape. So much thought goes in to the perfect blend of songs. A funny movie that gets better the more you watch it.

15. Eastern Promises
A Russian mob movie that has Viggo going for broke. I love this move for his character and the look of the Russian mafia. The best scene in this movie is when Viggo looks at the guy and jabs two fingers into his neck.

16. Old School
A flick that I have watched maybe twenty times over the years. I love this movie and I still cry when Blue dies. "You were my boy blue"

17. Good Night and Good Luck
A brilliant black and white movie that makes me feel like I am living in the 1950's. A great score, great story and great acting equals a great movie. When I watch this movie I wish that I could hangout in these cool bars from the 50's.

18. Sideways
A great movie about friendship, drinking, and the fear of getting married. This movie exposed the Santa Ynez area to the masses but I will always remember it how it was during my days at UCSB.

19. Black Hawk Down
I think this was the best war movie of the past ten years. This movie was so violent that a fight broke out at the movie theater in the middle of this film. That is still the only movie I have ever been to where complete strangers ended up punching each other just as the helicopter crashed. I have watched this movie at home many times and love it.

20. Frost/Nixon
A great movie that shows two men matching wits in an effort to control the narrative. Filmed on location above Cottons at the Western White House.

So, there it is, my top twenty movies of the past ten years. When I look over my list I can see some patterns begin to emerge. I like mob movies, nature, politics and curvy blondes. But hey, that's just me.