The Decade Remembered will be my series of pieces where I will do a top ten for each year from 2000 – 2009 with it ending with the complete Top Ten of the Decade to come.  After 2000, 2001 , 2002, 2003 ,2004 , 2005 and then came 2006:

TEN – The Prestige

Who Directed it? Christopher Nolan

Did it Win Anything? nope

Why Do I Love it? After seeing the more romanticized version of this movie earlier in the year (The Illusionist) it’s nice to see a proper thriller which treated the world of magicians as what they really are, i.e. glorified showmen who distract you and call it something it’s not.  Nolan brings out the best in the worst kind of actors (i.e. Hugh Jackman), added to a nice little love triangle between Bale, Jackman and Johansson.  It’s a great flick that everyone should see of course.

NINE – Half Nelson

Who Directed it? Ryan Fleck

Did it Win Anything? nope

Why Do I Love It? In a world of good and evil people usually never have time for characters that fall on both sides of the fence.  Yes Gosling plays a drug addict but at the same time he’s one of the best teachers that you could have.  He never compromises he character for anyone, which makes it interesting since he is really two characters at the same time.  It’s also great to see the student that he’s the closest to, who obviously knows and understands completely what he is, try to draw him away from it but not force him and when she sees it can’t work just accepts him and moves on.

EIGHT – Borat: Cultural Learnings for America Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Who Directed it? Larry Charles

Did It Win Anything? 1 Golden Globe (Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: Sacha Baron Cohen)

Why Do I Love It? I walked into this movie a hater, and wanted so hard to hate it, but I eventually ended up loving it.  I think it may have been funnier watching me attempting to not laugh during this movie rather than the film itself.  Sacha Baron Cohen owned this film.  He somehow was able to remain in character and I actually believe that he didn’t creak character for the period of shooting and definitely for the advertising campaign where he appeared all over the place (including the news due to his antics) being Borat and for that this man deserves a pat on the back.  It is just insane that he was able to more or less con all of these people into voluntarily appearing in his film for the sole purpose of making everyone look like complete asses.

SEVEN – Brick

Who Directed it? Rian Johnson

Did It Win Anything? nope

Why Do I Love It? Have you ever thought what possibly was going through the mind of the guy who created classic television shows like Scooby-Doo??? Well I’m sure this is almost what Rian Johnson was thinking when he put pen to paper for his very first feature film.  In a world where all high-school students look and talk like they’re thirty years old and never go to class and drug kingpins rule is where Brendan lives and watching him solve the mystery of what happened to his ex-girlfriend was intense and rewards you with every viewing.

SIX – The Science of Sleep

Who Directed it? Michel Gondry

Did It Win Anything? nope

Why Do I Love it? Imagine you fly all the way back to France for a job that your mother tricks you into taking and you’re so bored with life that you start designing your own dreams and you fall in love with the girl next door who thinks that you’re just plain weird.  This is what happens to Stephane as he tries to deal with this world that doesn’t always understand his crazy imagination.  Michel Gondry once again gives us some of the most imaginative filmmaking I’ve seen all decade.  Some of the things that Stephane dreams up in this movie still makes my brain go wild and at the same time I can’t stop wishing I had that level of creativity.  I still continually refer to PSR in real life whenever I see it occur thanks to this movie.

FIVE – Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Who Directed it? Chan-Wook Park

Did it Win Anything? nope

Why Do I Love It? If you love revenge films this is the movie for you.  This is the final chapter of Chan-Wook Park’s Vengeance Trilogy and it is possibly the best of the three for me.  It starts out slow and continues to build with every minute of the movie.  I love it and if you loved Oldboy you have to see this movie.

FOUR – Children of Men

Who Directed it? Alfonso Cuaron

Did it Win Anything? 2 BAFTA Awards (Best Cinematography, Best Production Design)

Why Do I Love It? Imagine how the world would respond to the news that the entire population had more or less become infertile.  The idea is that this group of so called terrorists have found the first woman in over eighteen years that has become pregnant and needs Theo to help get her across border checks to a local scientific initiative that will help her and her child and help solve this problem of infertility.  But the world is dark and dangerous now.  I love how this film takes us on this single perspective tale of a couple of people on the run trying to basically save the world in the only way he knows how.  Out of all of the post-apocalyptic films I’ve ever seen this has to be my favourite.  The world just strikes me as real and since the end of the world comes about due to our own inadequacy seems somewhat more believable than the usual “a meteor is coming to kill us all” kind of story we are used to hearing in these types of movies.

THREE – Pan’s Labyrinth

Who Directed it? Guillermo del Toro

Did It Win Anything? 3 Academy Awards (Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Makeup),  3 BAFTA Awards (Best Costume Design, Best Film not in the English Language, Best Makeup & Hair)

Why Do I Love It? I loved this movie from first sight.  It was the first movie that made me feel intrigued and frightened at the same time while reminding me that the best scary movies come from outside of Hollywood nowadays.  Guillermo del Toro (who I was not happy with after seeing the first Hellboy movie) proved to me that he is a competant director and does know how to make an amazing film with all of his favourite creatures once you give him the canvas that he needs to run his paintbrush across.

TWO – The Departed

Who Directed it? Martin Scorcese

Did it Win Anything? 4 Academy Awards (Best Achievement in Directing: Martin Scorcese, Best Achievement in Editing, Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Writing/Adapted Screenplay: William Monahan), 1 Golden Globe (Best Director – Motion Picture: Martin Scorcese)

Why Do I Love It? How can you not love Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson giving the performances of their careers.  Okay maybe Nicholson has better performances in his repertoire, but it doesn’t stop him from being amazing.  I’ve always been a huge fan of mob films but I’ve never seemed to move into the South of Boston before and seen all the crime of those streets and it was great to venture into this world with one of the staples in mob films, Mr. Martin Scorcese.

ONE – The Fountain

Who Directed it? Darren Aronofsky

Did it Win Anything? nope

Why Do I  Love It? This is quite possibly one of the most under appreciated films of the decade and maybe my favourite.  The movie is so interesting in not only it’s premise but also it’s execution.  Showing three similar stories spanning over a thousand years of time which are just as heart wrenching each time you see it.  I love the themes of life that come through these tales and the fact that they continue to repeat themselves each time.  I love the visuals and the score (by Clint Mansell) is one of my favourites of all time.  Some people tell me I’m wrong (in a major way) and I say to you, “blah.”  This movie brought me to tears (literally) and I can’t say that for many movies.