My (and only my) best movies of the decade: The top 10

Quickly before I get into any of that, I was just thrilled to see that "The Muppet Movie," a staple for kids who grew up when I did and hopefully still required viewing in households everywhere there are kids big and small, has been added for preservation to the 2009 National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

The only question that great news gives me is why in the world did it take so long? As you can see from the list below, there are a lot of other great choices this year, and even a music video from Michael Jackson. Hey, why not? Here it is:

1. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
2. The Exiles (1961)
3. Heroes All (1920)
4. Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)
5. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
6. Jezebel (1938)
7. The Jungle (1967)
8. The Lead Shoes (1949)
9. Little Nemo (1911)
10. Mabel’s Blunder (1914)
11. The Mark of Zorro (1940)
12. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
13. The Muppet Movie (1979)
14. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
15. Pillow Talk (1959)
16. Precious Images (1986)
17. Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)
18. The Red Book (1994)
19. The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-36)
20. Scratch and Crow (1995)
21. Stark Love (1927)
22. The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
23. A Study in Reds (1932)
24. Thriller (1983)
25. Under Western Stars (1938)

So there you have it. But here today, it's all about the final cut. Before I do my top 10 list for 2009, which I'm still putting off until the end of this week because I will finally see "Up in the Air" today, I've decided that the reigning champ isn't going to be dethroned, so I can go ahead and do my top 10 movies of the 2000s. I did, however, see one movie that will probably make the 2009 top 10 list coming Monday, Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces," which is just a wildly fun movie and a valentine to moviemaking (when and if you see it, you'll probably agree that it's really a valentine to making specifically Pedro Almodovar movies, but again, why not?)

OK, with the rules being one per year, here are my best movies of the oughts, or whatever you want to call them, with some video clips thrown in just for fun.

2000: "Almost Famous"
Judging from how Cameron Crown started out the '00s, you would think it would have been the most fruitful creative period of his life, but of course that was not to be. "Elizabethtown" almost made me claw my own eyes out, but this rock 'n' roll road movie chronicling Crowe's own ride as a too-young correspondent for the Rolling Stone is as fun as it is moving, and even made me a fan of Elton John again with one of the best uses of a pop song ever, the band rebonding with "Tiny Dancer." Enjoy that clip below.



2001: "The Royal Tenenbaums"
What made "Fantastic Mr. Fox" so good was that, after two instantly forgettable films in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "The Darjeeling Limited," it showed that Wes Anderson had returned to the top form he showed with this flick. At his best, Anderson has a natural gift for storytelling and an artist's eye for details that make you smile broadly if you pay close enough attention, and those two talents just converged perfectly with "The Royal Tenenbaums."

2002: "City of God"
If I had to pick just one, this would be my favorite movie of the '00s, and easily in my top 10 of all time too. Fernando Meirelles' chronicle of street life in Rio de Janeiro focuses on two boys, one who gets caught up in the gang culture that rules the streets and another who escapes to capture its harsh reality with his camera. It works as both a coming-of-age tale or a riveting gangster pic of sorts, and is just packed with searing visual images that are still burned on my brain to this day. Enjoy the clip below showing Lil' Dice transformed into the much more deadly Lil' Ze.



2003: "American Splendor"
Though Paul Giamatti had appeared in plenty of movies before this one from Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, he certainly chose the right flick to make his real impact as the star of the show. The two directors interweave Giamatti's take on the colorful character that is cartoonist Harvey Pekar with insight from the man himself, and its just a joy to watch as the lines between the two interweave. It also turns into a moving romance with Hope Davis as Pekar's love and salvation, Joyce Brabner, and Judah Friedlander is also just a hoot as Pekar's oddball buddy Toby.

2004: "Maria Full of Grace"
Still the only movie I've ever seen from writer/director Joshua Marston, "Maria Full of Grace" was ahead of its time in putting a very human face on the issue of immigration in America. It certainly doesn't hurt that that face here belongs to the simply stunning Catalina Sandino Moreno, or that the story of Maria Alvarez's role as a drug mule from Colombia and her road to redemption just make for a tremendously entertaining flick.

2005: "Hustle & Flow"
Though I enjoy straightforward musical biopics to a certain degree, I'm much more amenable to movies like "I'm Not There," "Cadillac Records" and this flick from director Craig Brewer that take the genre and twist it into something new. "Hustle & Flow" isn't, of course, a biopic at all, but with the character of struggling pimp and aspiring rapper Djay, brought to vivid life by Terrence Howard, Brewer brings all the corny joy of the rock fable to hip-hop, and though his story of dreaming big while often living small just sounds incredibly corny on paper, it works to near perfection on the big screen. In any language, this clip of Djay and Taraji P. Henson's Shug is just one of the great movie kisses of all time. Enjoy.



2006: "Pan's Labyrinth"
In the year of the three Mexicans, this flick from Guillermo del Toro still stands just a notch taller than Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men" in my book, though it's nearly a tie. With "Pan's Labyrinth," Del Toro explores the power of the imagination - both it's light and dark side - as our heroine, played by young Ivana Baquero, crafts an elaborate and often harrowing fantasy world to escape the harsh reality of her life in post-Civil War Spain. It revels in this talent that we all used as children but too often forget once we turn into "adults."

2007: "Into the Wild"
Sean Penn could have gone in many directions with his movie about doomed dreamer Christopher McCandless, but by keeping his own politics out of it and just letting the story unfold at a natural pace, he managed to craft a great American road movie. It's as moving as it is frustrating to watch how McCandless, played by Emile Hirsch, could have avoided his fate if he had simply let in one of the many people who reached out to him in his travels. Hal Holbrook should have won the Oscar he was nominated for with this flick, and Catherine Keener should have had her name called that night too.

2008: "Let the Right One In"
Just the other day, my brother and I were discussing the many fantastic scenes in director Tomas Alfredson's flick, and whether or not any of them will have nearly the same impact in "Cloverfield" director Matt Reeves' upcoming American remake, "Let Me In" (we both have rather serious doubts.) Alfredson's movie, based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel, is equal parts coming-of-age story and horror flick as it tells the tale of what happens when bullied Oskar meets the new girl next door - who just happens to be a vampire. Among the many things this movie gets rights is the moment at the pool when - after urging Oskar to stand up for himself - Eli takes matters into her own rather lethal hands. Easily the best horror movie scene of the last 10 years and more. Though I strongly watch you watch it in the movie first if you haven't seen it yet, here's a clip of that amazing sequence. Enjoy.



2009: "Inglourious Basterds"
Watching this movie unfold and just get better and better as it goes along drives home the point that Quentin Tarantino really was just treading water with the two "Kill Bill" movies and his half of "Grindhouse," because this was clearly the movie he was meant to make. It should really have a different name, because the titular "Basterds" are the weakest link in this saga that weaves together several plots to kill Hitler. Whether you call it revisionist history or revenge fantasy, it's also just wildly inventive storytelling. Two scenes in particular, the opening gambit with Christoph Waltz and a later one involving some kind of crazy game of celebrity Indian Head poker, are among the best Tarantino has ever written, just perfectly building all the tension that is finally released in that finale that I guarantee you won't ever forget.

So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed at least some of that, and if you haven't seen any of them, I guarantee they'll all well worth a rental. And with that I'm finally off to see if George Clooney and "Up in the Air" are really worth all the hype. Peace out.

Demko's DVD shelf: TV's smartest show out this week

AMC is going to be airing the entire first season of "Mad Men" back-to-back-to .. well you get the idea on July 26 to prepare for the very welcome start of season two July 27 (wow .. new TV in the summer that doesn't involve someone doing a face-plant into a giant rubber ball!)

If you can't wait that long, and I certainly can't, you can pick up the seriously great first season now on DVD, making it easily my pick of the week.

The two things that set "Mad Men" apart from anything else on TV now are the writing and the simply first-rate acting. Creator Matthew Weiner and his writers don't just embrace the world it's set in, the "golden age" of Madison Avenue advertising in the early '60s, they revel in it. The term political correctness wouldn't be invented for another 30 years or so, so "Mad Men" gleefully dives into all the -isms you can think of and soaks them all in a vat of gin.

And the actors, from Emmy winner Don Draper (ad executive Jon Hamm) on down, just embrace the spirit of the era. The ladies of "Mad Men," especially Elisabeth Moss and January Jones, often outshine the hard-charging dudes around them. I can't recommend this one highly enough, just in case you couldn't tell! There are, however, a few other picks out there this week too, one I've seen and two I will very soon ...

City of Men
This one is not so much a sequel to "City of God" (often listed as my favorite movie of all time, if I'm forced to choose), but more as a follow-up to the great Brazilian "City of Men" TV series.

That series has been out on DVD for a while now, and is very well worth a rental. The movie that's out this week, produced but not directed by "City of God" helmer Fernando Meirelles, focuses on two friends growing in the rather rough world of Rio de Janeiro. With their eighteenth birthdays fast approaching, Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) sets out to find the father he never met while Acerola (Douglas Silva) struggles to raise his own son.

I haven't seen this one yet, but the series that preceded it is just epicly good television, so the movie's coming this weekend from the Netflix.

Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns
The rather prolific Tyler Perry was clearly coasting a bit with this one, but it still has its charms, mostly due to the always-welcome Angela Bassett. Here she plays a single mom suffering through really tough times in Chicago when she's called to Georgia for the funeral of the father she never met. At that point it turns into mostly a showcase for two of Perry's favorite stage performers, David and Tamela Mann, and - of course - Bassett finds love in the arms of former Laker Rick Fox (this is a Tyler Perry movie, after all, so I'm really not giving too much away here!) And, be warned, Madea does indeed turn up at the end of this one.

My Blueberry Nights
For his journey to America, Chinese director Wong Kar Wai - who has created some lushly beautiful movies in his homeland - surrounds himself with plenty of beautiful people.

Norah Jones, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and even Cat Power (Chan Marshall) are along for the ride in this American road flick that (as far as I can tell) is all about love. The reviews I saw for this were mixed at best, but I've loved the few Wong flicks I've managed to see thus far, so this one's definitely on my rental list too.

And that's it for today. If you happen to go see "Hancock," please let me know what you thought. I'm gonna see it tomorrow morning, but my hopes aren't terribly high. Peace out.

What's your favorite movie?

A lot of people I know who love movies just refuse to answer that question, and I've been known to do so too from time to time, but I do have one definite favorite when I'm pressed.

I've occasionally landed on "To Kill a Mockingbird," still very dear to my heart, but the real answer is the first film from Fernando Meirelles, "City of God" ("Cidade de Deus.") It's just a moving story of kids growing up (or trying to) in Rio de Janeiro, very well told. It also contains several visually stunning scenes, especially the street party, and I'm always hooked by stories about photographers. And, just in case you somehow haven't seen this and need some more inducement, the lovely Alice Braga is in it too.

So, what made me think of that? Well, there's a sequel of sorts hitting theaters this Friday, "City of Men" ("Cidade dos Homens.") I've enjoyed the TV series of the same name, and director Paulo Morelli, who directed some episodes, is in charge for the flick. Like "City of God," it centers on two friends, this time played by Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha, and how the Rio drug trade has impacted their lives.

But, I digress a bit. I'm not sure when I'll be able to see "City of Men," but a fairly long trailer is below for anyone who's interested. Today, however, I'm interested in knowing what your favorite movie is, if indeed you have one, and why you love it so much. And yes, it's OK to have more than one. I hope at least a few people play along, and that some of you indeed get to see "City of Men." Peace out.