Top 50 Movies of the Past Decade

I cannot, of course, claim to tell you what The Top 50 Movies of the Past Decade were, since that would require my having seen all the movies there were; I can only tell you what my Top 50 were, which is of only limited use unless you know which movies aren't on the list because I didn't see them, and which aren't there because I didn't think they were good enough.  But, as this is a list I have been meaning to make for awhile, and I have a blog on which I can share such things, I will do so, useful or not.  A few things you should know:

The "Past Decade" designates to all of the movies that came out between roughly the end of 2001, which was the point in my life where I first began to make a point of watching good movies, and roughly the end of 2011.  Documentaries and TV miniseries are excluded, although many are among my favorites.  "Top" movies are determined primarily by my (admittedly rough) standard of storytelling and filmmaking excellence, but also, to a lesser extent, by how downright enjoyable they were (hence the relatively high ranking for the original Pirates of the Caribbean), and in some cases, by how much I appreciated the argument the film was making (this, for instance, obviously helps the ranking of The Tree of Life).  Necessarily, it is also determined by how much impact the film made on me when I saw it, even if my artistic sensibilities have changed since.   Also note that while these are ranked in order, this ordering is only accurate to +/- 2 ranks (which is why I haven't shown the numbers).  So a movie here ranked 9th might be as high as 7th or as low as 11th if I remade this list next week.  This is particularly important to note for the top 3, among which I really can't pick a favorite.   But enough of the blather.  Here they are:

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De-Theologizing Harry (or, The Death of the Death of Death)

On Thursday night, I had the privilege of seeing the final Harry Potter movie in the city where the books were conceived and written, so I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on how faithfully this last crucial film reflected the rich theology of J.K. Rowling's creation.  I should mention that I was, until the very last book, something of a Potter skeptic, unconvinced that the books were anything more than a fun and overhyped story.  But in the final chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I was bowled over by the overt and profound Christological elements, which were so prominent that it seemed impossible that they could be integrated without overwhelming the story and turning it into a sermon.  That they did not do so is a remarkable tribute to Rowling's literary prowess.  Following the logic of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the final book revealed that the magical world of wonder that Harry inhabited was not all there was--there was a deeper magic, which overturned all the calculations of the magical world. 

But the question was, could Hollywood grasp this deep magic?  It had failed abysmally in the recent Narnia adaptations, sucking all traces of theology out with startling efficiency.  The less overt theology of Lord of the Rigns had escaped somewhat more intact, though still crucially undermined at points.  Whether intentionally or simply out of blindness, Hollywood shows itself remarkably adept at de-theologizing stories, and converting them, so far as possible, into some kind of feel-good humanism.  I had a suspicion, especially after Deathly Hallows Part One, that this supremely theological tale would be no exception.  Alas, I guessed rightly. (WARNING: Spoilers ahead!)

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Documentary Round-Up Pt. 3: The War in Iraq and the KJB

The War You Don't See (2011):

 Message: 5/5
Content/Compellingness of Argument: 4/5
Cinematography: 4/5

Back when I was spewing venom about the obsequious media response to the prospective war in Libya, a friend recommended this documentary to me, and I finally got around to seeing it a couple weeks ago.  It's made by John Pilger, a veteran English documentarian who has made a business of unmasking the powers that be for more than three decades (though this is the first film of his that I've seen).  Indeed, with his track record, it's surprising that he was able to get any higher-ups to sit down and consent to an interview with him.  Many of them don't come off looking very good at all, and Pilger has no hesitation in contradicting them to their faces when they try to BS their way through awkward questions.  Of course, being English, he's still too polite to go for the kill and elicit the kind of angry outburst that Ferguson gets in Inside Job.  Also, the film appears to be on a considerably lower budget than Inside Job, and so isn't quite as cinematically flawless; but it does pretty well considering.

The theme of this movie is the pervasive failure of the Western media (of course Pilger's chief focus is on the British media, but the sins he uncovers there look like petty quibbles next to what many American networks are routinely guilty of) to offer a really honest and transparent account of Western military engagements.  Too often, they simply act as the public relations arm of the government, disseminating to the masses the official statements--often enough bald lies--of White House or Downing Street.  The official account is rarely subjected to any serious scrutiny, and independent reporting that calls it into question or unearths inconvenient facts is usually swept under the rug and not allowed to make it to press.

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Documentary Round-Up Pt. 2: Down with Wal-Mart and McDonalds!

Whereas the documentary in the first post, Inside Job, took on the behemoths of the American banking industry, and did it very effectively, these next two documentaries likewise sought to expose the dark underbelly of American corporate giants--two of the most iconic: Wal-Mart and McDonalds--but were less effective in their execution.

The High Cost of Low Price

Message: 4.5/5

Content/Compellingness of Argument: 2.5/5

Cinematography: 1/5

This film is an attack on Wal-Mart's business practices, pointing out, essentially, that the wonderful benefits to American society of being able to buy $10 cardigans and $5 earbuds do not come without a price.  Obvious, perhaps, yet it is stunning how many ardent defenders Wal-Mart still has.  The movie covers the obvious bases--running small businesses into the ground and destroying downtowns, appalling Third World labor conditions, barely liveable pay for First World Wal-Mart employees--along with some less obvious ones--poor security at Wal-Mart parking lots leading to high crime rates, very poor environmental standards, for instance.  All of this is very much a story that needs to be told.

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Fifteen Films I Won't Forget

Fellow New Collegian and uber-blogger Byron Smith recently posted a "meme" listing fifteen films he wouldn't forget. "The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen films you’ve seen that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen films you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes."

I never do things like this...in fact, I didn't even know the term "meme," which my Macbook dictionary defines as "an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation."  Hm...guess that works.  But as this blog is certainly open to the criticism of sticking to "serious" topics way too much of the time, to the point that things worthwhile in themselves might get a bit tiresome, I reckon I'd better lighten things up.  

So here's my fifteen films (in no particular order)--not my favourites necessarily (though a number certainly are), but all memorable for one reason or another:

Inception
Chariots of Fire
Gladiator
The Dark Knight
Memento
The Mission
Oasis
Shutter Island
The Passion of the Christ
Twelve Angry Men
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Monte Python and the Holy Grail
Avatar
The Godfather
Brideshead Revisited (does a TV miniseries count?  If not, The Sixth Sense)