The show At the Movies was once a favorite show of mine. It is of course the show that started as Siskel and Ebert and then became Ebert and Roeper at the movies. When Disney wanted to mess with it and make it more about entertainment, they hired two douchebags and I stopped watching. Realizing their mistake Disney went back to what worked and hired two great film critics and took the show back to really reviewing movies. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and A.O. Scott of The New York Times are two of my favorites to read and they were my two favorite guest hosts with Ricard Roeper, so my excitement level for At the Movies went right back up. Starting this past week, the show is going to feature each man unveiling one movie a week in their top 10 of the decade.
A few months ago Robbie approached me with the idea of coming up with a best of the decade list and it kind of festered in my mind, but a few weeks ago I started to really think about it. I rewatched a bunch of movies and thought long and hard about it. Then I watched At the Movies this weekend and it clinched it for me: I needed a list. So, Saturday night I started a list. It started at 50 movies, then I got it down to 33. Monday the list got whittled down to 25 and finally yesterday afternoon I got the the list all the way down to my definitive top 10.
Before I unveil how this is going to work, I need to talk about how I decided on these 10 movies. It is a combination of things and different aspects are weighed differently. I wasn't sure if I should do just the ten best, or most replayable, or maybe 10 movies I felt defined this decade of film making. Should I look at them for what I felt at the time of their release, or movies that hold up over time? Eventually I came to the conclusion that it should be a bit of all of that. So my list will incorporate a lot of those aspects for different movies.
Alright, so the plan is this, for the next ten weeks I will release 1 movie on my list to coincide with At the Movies. I will also list each of those guys' pick and talk about for a brief second. This might turn out to be a colossal disaster and it is very time consuming considering I have like 4 people who actually read this, but I think I want it for me, so here we go!
Number 8
Michael Phillips: United 93- I actually thought long and hard about this movie and where it would go on my list, but ultimately I could not place it anywhere. I still strongly feel everyone should see the movie and I still feel like it is one of the most emotionally affecting movies I have ever seen, but I am not sure if that qualifies it on merit. I look at this as something totally different than I view any other movie. It is truly a snapshot of one specific moment in a larger moments and am not sure how to classify it. I may regret not putting it on my list when it is all said and done, because I find the film to be quite moving.
A.O Scott: 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days- I have not seen this movie nor have I had much desire to see it and I am not sure Scott did enough to sway me really.
My pick: Brokeback Mountain- I really do not care what anyone else says, this is an amazing movie. I know there is some residual backlash and some people who think it was a hype machine, but every time I watch it, I am filled with tears and every time I watch it I come away thinking it is a gorgeously tragic love story with 2 incredible performances, great directing, a perfectly understated script and some amazing scenery. The movie deserves a place in pop culture, sure, but it is more than just a "Gay cowboy" movie. It means so much more. It is a wonderful love story and it really allowed Heath ledger to shine and strip himself of the pretty boy status he was so desperately trying to shed. I still think Gyllenhall deserved a nomination as well and the movie being beaten by Crash is kind of stupid, but this holds up in a way Crash never can.
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