The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #1

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento
12/27: #5: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
12/28: #4: The Royal Tenenbaums
12/29: #3: Amelie
12/30: #2: There Will Be Blood

Number 1 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
With a bullet. I mean, not even close. Astute readers might recall that in my Top 50 films that I posted a little over a year ago, there were only two from this decade in the first chunk of ten, and this was the higher of the two (I didn't assign numbers, and interestingly enough, my Decennial #2 is nowhere to be found on the entire list; either I was still digesting it or made an oversight). Additionally, Eternal Sunshine was one of the movies I listed as one of my favorites in the LAMB's first-ever post. You read and perfectly retained the info given in both those posts, right?

Almost since the day I saw it, Michel Gondry's near-perfect film vaulted itself into my vaunted Top 3 (an impossible to separate trio that includes Pulp Fiction and Fight Club, with Fletch coming in a sentimental fourth). Inventive, funny, heartbreaking, creepy, sexy - pick an adjective, they all apply in spades.

Take a look at the complete Decennial Top 10 I've posted and you'll notice a very similar theme that runs through many of them: they are the works of tireless creatives that weren't satisfied with merely telling a story that existed in the reality we inhabit. Rather, they constructed whole new worlds in their films and filled them with intricate, intimate details that left the viewer's eyes (or at least this viewer) wide-eyed and struggling to catch up to all that had been laid out in front of them. A depressing America some 500 years into the future filled with morons (at best). An equally depressing (for altogether different reasons) planet just 20 years from now that needs but a single tweak (infertility) to wreak havoc on a global scale. The imagination of a pre-teen girl inhabited by monsters and fairies. A depressing America some 500 years into the future filled with morons (at best)...and robots. The blackboard of a mind of Leonard Shelby. Middle Earth! The Salinger-esque universe that occupies the head of Wes Anderson, complete with jumpsuit-attired millionaires and the fathers that abandoned them. A Paris so clean and picturesque it left real Parisians livid with Jean-Pierre Jeunet. And perhaps the lone exception, an all-too real version of the world of the early 1900s dominated by tycoons and baptist preachers.

Finally, there is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a movie that takes its audience and characters so far into the rabbit hole that we all forget that there was even a hole there to begin with. Faceless characters, worlds disappearing before our eyes - it's as if screenwriter Charlie Kauffman and Gondry dropped us into a human-sized ant farm and then shook it up until all the tunnels and patterns became jumbled and unrecognizable. So we waded through it all, and what did we find? That the world they had made was perhaps better than the one we were in to begin with.


What's your Top 10 for the decade? Finally, the Blog Cabins End of Year Spectacular for the best and worst of 2009 should hit the streets towards the end of January.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #2

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento
12/27: #5: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
12/28: #4: The Royal Tenenbaums
12/29: #3: Amelie

Number 2 on the RD-oBCDS is...

There Will Be Blood (2007)
Of all of the films on the Decennial, I've seen this one the least - just once, in the theater, upon its opening about two years ago. Fact is, it's been sitting on my DVR for six months now, awaiting a second viewing.

I don't know what's taking so long - why I haven't sat down for another helping of P.T. Anderson's phenomenal sweeping epic clash between capitalism and religion. It might have something to do with the nearly three hour run time, but that doesn't seem all that feasible given all of the films I've watched over that time. No, I think that there's a part of me that's afraid to experience it for a second time, afraid that I won't be as enamored of Daniel Day-Lewis' owning of the screen or Johnny Greenwood's haunting score or Paul Dano's coming-out party or any number of other aspects of the film that a single viewing might have blinded me to.

I'm sure my fears are unfounded. I'll watch it again and, like with most movies, notice more to love about it rather than vice versa. I'll convince myself even more so that Paul Thomas Anderson is perhaps the greatest filmmaker currently working or that DDL is our greatest living actor and other semi-obvious, shallow statements. And then, to celebrate my triumphant viewing of the film, I'll enjoy a nice, tall, frosty, chocolate --


Think you know what #1 will be? Stay tuned...the big unveiling is tomorrow!

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #3

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento
12/27: #5: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
12/28: #4: The Royal Tenenbaums

Number 3 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Amélie (2001)
I don't know if it's more apropos to say that director Jean-Pierre Jeunet did a number on me...or that star Audrey Tautou did. Either way, I was smitten on first sight with Amélie, which has ten times the heart, humor and style of just about every Hollywood-produced "romantic comedy" put out (the closest they've come recently was with (500) Days of Summer).

The word "whimsy" is thrown around a lot in cinematic criticism, and it's usually used in a derogatory fashion, as if the mere act of being whimsical demeans the art at hand. I can think of no better argument against that line of thinking than this tale of a melancholy young Parisian who feels not quite lonely, but sans her soulmate, who she just knows is out there.

But Jeunet understood that the journey is much more important than the destination, so he put together an excellent story that unfolds like a treasure map for the viewer, with twists and turns and broken hearts...until finally, the heart is put back together again, and with every viewing, my heart grows even fonder for Amélie...and Amélie.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #4

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento
12/27: #5: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Number 4 on the RD-oBCDS is...

The Royal Tenebaums (2001)
Wes Anderson made people take notice of him with Bottle Rocket. Then he gave the world an all-time great character in Max Fischer in the beautifully crafted Rushmore. But it wasn't until The Royal Tenenbaums that we really got a glimpse inside the head and world of Wes Anderson.

Tenenbaums was presented to us from the start as if it were a long-lost novel, a Catcher in the Rye of sorts that had somehow never been found. Inside was a treasure trove of intricately drawn characters, from the persnickety Royal to the out-there Eli to the eternally depressed and lovelorn Richie and on and on. Even throwaway characters like Raleigh St. Clair and his patient Dudley Heinsbergen are given intricate backstories and choice dialogue. The surroundings were just as detailed as the people that inhabited them. We were given dalmatian mice, Gypsy cab companies, and this set of paintings that I absolutely adore.

Throw in an excellent compilation of 60s and 70s-era Brit-pop, punk and Bob Dylan and a so-deep-it-hurts cast and what you get is a movie that clicks on all levels. It will be in a never-ending battle royals with Rushmore for Anderson Supremacy in my book, but Rushmore's 90s release excludes it from this debate.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #5

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento

Number 5 on the RD-oBCDS is...

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Many tried, and many failed. Even The Matrix, a sci-fi origin tale that dovetailed perfectly with the booming popularity of the internet, could not sustain its momentum outside of the first movie. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, having already been a popular and known commodity for decades, did what no others could: rival the Star Wars universe for the battle for geek's hearts everywhere.

Working from Tolkien's source material was a disadvantage in addition to being an advantage, though. Though there might have been a built-in audience at least for the first film, its success with the public (and as a film in general) would largely determine its overall place in the cinematic world. Had it not been a rousing success, a la The Golden Compass, interest in future adaptations would have evaporated. Instead, Peter Jackson just so happened to hit it out of the ballpark, setting up the foundation for what would be the defining trilogy of the new millennium.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #6

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E

Number 6 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Memento (2000)
(All the shaky cam in the world can't compare.) How often can you say that a film has done that for you? Editing the film in such a way that it places the audience into a similar boat as its protagonist was Nolan's masterstroke. This isn't some high-concept piece about a guy that all of a sudden can read women's minds; it's the story of a man that retains no short-term memory. After all, it's completely logical. Chris Nolan's coming-out party is a brilliant film on many levels; yes, the nature of the way it is edited together holds tremendous appeal, but it takes nothing away from the story - it enhances it. You say it doesn't hold up, I say watch the chronological-order version on the DVD. Well, you say gimmick, I say ingenious.

"It's a gimmick," some might say, "and the movie doesn't hold up as a decent film at all once that gimmick is taken away."



Are you saying "Huh?" yet? Well, you're just gonna have to decode the rest.

Now see, what I did just there was a gimmick, but that's only because I'm nowhere near as talented as Nolan is. Here's the text in chronological order:

"It's a gimmick," some might say, "and the movie doesn't hold up as a decent film at all once that gimmick is taken away."

Well, you say gimmick, I say ingenious. You say it doesn't hold up, I say watch the chronological-order version on the DVD. Chris Nolan's coming-out party is a brilliant film on many levels; yes, the nature of the way it is edited together holds tremendous appeal, but it takes nothing away from the story - it enhances it. After all, it's completely logical. This isn't some high-concept piece about a guy that all of a sudden can read women's minds; it's the story of a man that retains no short-term memory. Editing the film in such a way that it places the audience into a similar boat as its protagonist was Nolan's masterstroke. How often can you say that a film has done that for you? (All the shaky cam in the world can't compare.)

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #7

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth

Number 7 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Wall*E (2008)
Pixar released seven feature films during the last decade. Six received a Best Animated Feature nomination from the Academy (this number will reach seven in a few short months when Up joins the team), four of which went on to win (Cars and Monsters, Inc. being the exception; again, this number is likely to climb to five). All but Cars has a Rotten Tomatoes score of > 95%. All but Cars has a worldwide gross of >$500 million. And all this is a long way of saying that any number of them could (should?) be in this spot, specifically either Finding Nemo or The Incredibles.

So what puts Wall*E ahead of them?

Good question. It comes down to a few things it was able to do: a) make you fall in love with a robot, b) leave you even more speechless than the film with a wordless 20-minute intro, and c) incorporate a preachy message...without being overtly preachy (the link to Idiocracy doesn't hurt, either). In addition, by being the newest of the three - and by being the only one set outside of our atmosphere - it's able to capture your eyes just as much as it did your heart.

(But it's really close. I feel like no matter which was chosen, it would have been the "wrong" selection.)

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #8

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men

Number 8 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Alfonso Cuaron pops into the Top 10 of the 00s yet again. This time not as director, but as a producer of the Guillermo del Toro-helmed horror-fantasy period piece.

Pan showed us that the horrors of real life (war, specifically) will always be much darker than the monsters of our imaginations, while at the same time illustrating that the creativity locked inside our minds had the power to provide refuge from those all-too-real evils.

A powerful fairy tale, shot beautifully and enhanced tenfold by another imagination - del Toro's own, which filled the film with fairies, creatures and monsters unlike anything we'd ever seen before, giving us haunting images that serve as mental postcards of the film's evocative moods of danger, whimsy, and longing for a serene childhood that was not to be.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #9

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy

Number 9 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Children of Men (2006)
It's funny that Neil Blonkamp was raked over the coals for turning District 9 from a faux-documentary about serious social issues in South Africa into a balls-to-the-wall sci-fi action film in its second half. Three years earlier, Alfonso Cuaron did the same thing with Children of Men.

Then again, Cuaron, working from an excellent piece of source material, did it a lot better, which is why this film is on the list of the decade's ten best and Blonkamp's isn't (though it might pop up in another list at a later date).

Worldwide infertility. Immigration. A government at odds with its people. Like the best science fiction, Children melded these big issues with world-class action, technological advances, and (oh by the way) some of the best camera work you'll see in a theater, to say nothing of the A-list, Academy-bred cast, from star Clive Owen to Julianne Moore to Michael Caine and Chiwetel Ejiofor. What resulted was a contemplative action film that jolted your heart with a million volts of electricity and sent them all to your brain for processing.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: Some Opening Words and the #10

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occuring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition. Be sure to come back in ~3654 days for the next installment - it's gonna be off the chain hand to the elbow crizwhack (insert somewhat outdated slang term of 2019 here).

The year-end spectacular for 2009 will be hitting the interwebs in mid- to late-January, but this decennial will be broken down and laid out for your viewing pleasure over the next 10 days, with a post per day, counting down one of the Mystical Magical 10 (aka my Top 10) each day, with Christmas an off-day, only because you'll be too busy drinking Santa Nog and eating Reindeer Droppings to bother reading blogs that day (jerks!). Enough foreplay.

Number 10 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Idiocracy
Mike Judge knows stupid people, and lots of them. So much so, that for his third feature, released in 2006, he dedicated an entire movie to them (debate amongst yourselves whether or not Beavis and Butt-Head Do America already accomplished this). Regularly panned for its apparent lack of a budget and given the shaft by Fox after some test screenings didn't give them the warm fuzzies, the comedy found a cult audience on DVD, a deja vu of what had occured some seven years prior with Office Space.

It mattered not. Judge packed his 84-minute film with over-the-top performances, sight gags, cameos from lovable character actors and quotable lines, and then topped it all off with a prescient, so-true-it-hurts concept that becomes more relevant with each passing day.

And then...