Presenting, the top 10 movies of the decade so far...
10. Under the Skin
Jonathan Glazer
Scarlett Johansson, at least in recent years, has not been known for her turns as subtle characters in indie movies. But as an alien in human skin, her lack of emotive understanding is actually the best performance Johansson has ever given. Director Jonathan Glazer has never been one to make straight-forward films--even his debut Sexy Beast is twisting and almost impossible to follow--but the message in Under the Skin is nothing less than elusive. The haunting feeling you experience watching it is partly Johansson's brilliant acting, but mostly it is the absorbing imagery, a visual experience unlike anything since the last 20 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
9. The Master
Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson is known for making engrossing, thought-provoking films, and The Master is no exception. A thinly veiled allegory for the founding of Scientology, Anderson fills this movie with an outstanding cast, all giving award-worthy performances as, just, the worst people you can imagine. Joaquin Phoenix plays a despicable waste of a man who finds some direction when he is accepted into Phillip Seymour Hoffman's growing "educational movement" (read: "cult"). Add Amy Adams as Hoffman's faithful wife, but often reluctant partner in the movement, and you have a winning combination for one of the most challenging films of the decade.
8. Zero Dark Thirty
Kathryn Bigelow
The story of how the United States finally caught Bin Laden was one that we all fantasized about for 10 agonizing years. But then it came true, and we all wondered how. The story Kathryn Bigelow presents, as her follow-up to the brilliant Hurt Locker, is not the raid on Bin Laden's compound, although that is the dramatic conclusion, filmed with just as much heart-stopping suspense as her previous work. No, most of Zero Dark Thirty focuses on the actual hunt, the years of thankless toil and peril that members of the CIA put in to finally find the most wanted man in history. Sure, it doesn't sound exciting, but if you lived through the terrifying years that were the "War on Terror," you'll recognize and remember, with horrifying clarity, each ghastly milestone our heroes experience: the London bus/tube bombings, the attack on the Saudi hotel, the Pakistani hotel bombing, the attack on CIA operatives in an Afghan forward operating base. The sorrow, the terror, the sheer will to find a man hiding in plain sight from the world's greatest detective agency, is all included in Bigelow's magnum opus. A truly brilliant film with an entirely accurate look at the dangerous world of intelligence.
7. Drive
Nicolas Winding Refn
Drive is probably most famous for two things: it was sued for having "misleading" trailers, and Ryan Gosling is in it, but essentially never talks. If you've seen any of Refn's previous work, you would definitely expect both of those. The man is insanely good at making catchy trailers, and his characters only ever use the bare minimum of words (if any, see Valhalla Rising). That said, Gosling's character doesn't really have to talk, his ability to display intense-but-well-caged fury does all the talking for him. That and the action. Sure, the car chases are few and far between for a movie called Drive, but goddamn are they amazing. Captured with gorgeous style and exceptional camerawork, the chase scenes in Drive are some of the best ever to be filmed. Refn also has an excellent knack for pacing; just as you think the movie is slowing down, up comes another issue our mysterious Driver has to deal with. Arthouse it may be, but the stylized violence, striking visuals, and fantastic soundtrack make for one amazing ride.
6. The Social Network
David Fincher
Normally, when you think of big-budget, award-grabbing, end-of-year movies, you don't think about college kids starting their own website. But if there's one thing David Fincher has proven over the years, it's that he can make just about anything exciting, the tumultuous early years of Facebook being no exception. What made The Social Network truly brilliant was Aaron Sorkin's patented quick-paced, back-and-forth dialogue. Each character, but especially Jesse Eisenberg's expertly portrayed Mark Zuckerberg, tries to outsmart the other in conversation. To say the least, the script is impeccable, the direction from Fincher is, as always, beautiful, and the performances of every player--from Eisenberg's Zuckerberg, to Justin Timberlake's Sean Parker, to Armie Hammer's portrayal of both Winklevoss twins--are riveting. David Fincher's The Social Network is ambitious filmmaking at its very best.
5. Black Swan
Darren Aronofsky
By the end of Black Swan, the entire audience in the theater was awe-struck, overcome with a tidal wave of both admiration and melancholy. Darren Aronofsky has been making overly dark films for years (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, and the most depressing movie of all time The Fountain), but his tale of psychological breaks caused from an obsessive perfectionism was so extreme, you might as well be watching a ticking time bomb. Natalie Portman gives a (justly) award-winning performance as Nina, a premier ballerina whose severe determination to beat out her competition (Mila Kunis) and perfect every movement slowly drives her insane. The movie is essentially symbolic of Aronofsky's own drive and motivation, determined to make each shot perfect and give every scene the weight of a neutron star. The brilliance of Black Swan, however, is not just its bold direction and melodramatic acting, but its ability to take a setting most people would never agree to watch--ballet--and turn it into the most intense workplace this side of Mogadishu.
4. Gravity
Alfonso Cuarón
The best review of Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón's trapped-in-space thriller, was actually the Onion's fake review where their in-house movie critic slowly goes insane after watching it, painting his face in tribal make-up and trying to kill the cameraman. The experience of viewing this masterpiece in an IMAX theater in 3-D was not vastly different from that farcical take. Apart from being an edge-of-your-seat adventure, the total immersion provided by Cuarón's direction and Emmanuel Lubezki's breathtaking cinematography has you gasping for air and clinging to any solid object in reach right along with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney's astronauts. Every missed hand-hold is a tragedy, every wasted breath a disaster beyond reckoning. The very essence of space is maddening; there is nothing...just, nothing, for millions and billions of miles. If you "fall" you will never land, and no one can stop your descent into an abyss of infinite emptiness. The weight of that feeling, and one of immeasurable smallness pervades the entire film. There is a slim chance you can make it, but it is so...far...away...
3. Boyhood
Richard Linklater
Filmmaking as an art is something that often gets lost in the constant barrage of CG explosions, kaiju robots, and super heroes. But what is even more rare to see is filmmaking as a scientific experiment. No, I don't mean experimental film (see entry #10 for that), I mean taking 12 years to slowly film a couple scenes where a boy, his sister, mother, and a long line of alcoholic step-fathers actually experience a "normal" American life. Obviously nothing staged over the course of such a long time is normal, but it's as close as any movie has been yet. The boy doesn't become an astronaut, rock star, or professional athlete; we're not with him long enough to find out what happens in adulthood (it is called Boyhood after all). He doesn't battle cancer or face targeted persecution by secret police; those events are far too rare to be average. He is a boy, that is all, and to be able to make a compelling, nostalgic, touching movie about something we all wish hadn't gone by so quickly is a truly beautiful thing.
2. 12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen
It is a rare thing indeed to see a movie so affecting and filled with characters played to perfection. Steve McQueen is not one to shy away from overly-intimate looks into the darkest, most depraved corners of humanity, and certainly does not do so here. Each scene is filled with the kind of tension reserved for the most despicable of horror films, but opposite of what you might think, that is exactly what you'll find in 12 Years a Slave, the kind of horror no person ever wants to admit to seeing. There has not been a film that exposes human tragedy and suffering on this level since Schindler's List, and 12 Years a Slave is just as heartbreaking, terrifying, melodramatic, and brilliantly directed as it's 1993 predecessor. One does not just squirm with discomfort at the lynching scene, you writhe with the same pain as Chiwetel Ejiofor's Soloman Northrup. One is not just disgusted during the whipping scene, you are brought to the height of unberable nausea at the sight of such a sickening act. One does not just hate Michael Fassbender's Edwin Epps, you yearn for his utter destruction every moment he is on screen with the passion of a thousand suns. But in the end, this movie is not about guilt, or shaming the past, as much as it is about the indelible human spirit, and a man with a will to be free so strong even the fires of Mount Doom could not destroy it.
Christopher Nolan
To even touch the brilliance of Nolan's masterpiece is to intercept a transmission from the Court of the Yellow King. What should be a run-of-the-mill heist movie is anything but, instead becoming a mind-bending thriller that plays with the concepts of time, reality, and the very fabric of consciousness. The ending--that insufferable, unbearable ending--is one that has been debated since its first screening, and will continue to be debated to generations to come. Is it all real? Is it all a dream? The non-answer is the most brilliant choice in visual storytelling since the same frustrating smash-cut ended The Sopranos three years earlier. Apart from the "one last job gone wrong" story being retold brilliantly, Nolan's newly found infinite budget also allowed him to create the most brain-melting visuals anyone has seen. The use of practical, in-camera effects work is so seamless you would think they really bent that Parisian street up onto itself. And of course, Nolan's acting choices are impeccable. Always more willing to work with character players over big stars (not that Leo isn't a big star, but he's definitely better at acting than most), Inception is filled with performances that let you fully slide into the story and suspend disbelief completely. The combination of expertly photographed action, superb art direction, fantastic storytelling, and brilliantly directed tension makes Inception one of the best movies of all-time, and the best of the decade (so far).
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See this year's other lists... Top 20 Songs of 2014 Top 10 Albums of 2014 Top 25 Albums of the Decade (So Far)
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