My Top 50 Movies of the Decade

I've seen a lot of movies through the years. I certainly know what I like and what I don't, but for the most part, movies are just movies. I'm not interested in analyzing them for messages and I don't want to be manipulated. Just make me laugh, cry, think or wonder.

As 2009 came to a close, everyone and their brother assembled "best of" lists for the year, and some more ambitious folk tackled the decade. I'm not one to shy away from a challenge, so while it's a little bit late, here's my list of my top 50 movies of the decade.

Without further ado:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000): Magical. Sensational special effects, a beautiful story and wonderful performances by Chow-Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi. Gets me every time.

2. A History of Violence (2005): Ah, small town America. Mild-mannered Viggo Mortensen (in one of his best performances) performs a heroic act of violence...and then everything starts to go awry. Maria Bello and William Hurt are fantastic. This one still shocks me a bit.

3. Children of Men (2006): Brilliant, bleak and hopeful. Clive Owen comes to the rescue of civilization in 2027, a chaotic time when humans can no longer procreate, but he has agreed to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea. Amazingly snubbed by Oscar. Fantastic.

4. Brokeback Mountain (2005): Heartbreaking, beautifully filmed and wonderfully acted, this story of two cowboys who fall in love boasts some phenomenal performances by Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams, with haunting music from Gustavo Santaolalla.

5. Memento (2000): One of the best movies to turn the narrative structure awry, this story of a man (Guy Pearce) suffering from short-term memory loss who is determined to find out who killed his wife still resonates nearly 10 years after I first saw it. No shortage of "wow" moments in this movie, this proved Christopher Nolan would be a director to be reckoned with.

6. The Departed (2006): The film that finally won Martin Scorsese the Oscars that had long evaded him is far, far more than a consolation prize-winner. This movie is unflinching in its portrayal of police corruption and deception, beautifully violent and boasts tremendous performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga and (surprise) Jack Nicholson.

7. Best in Show (2000): While all of Christopher Guest's "mockumentaries" are enjoyable, this one, chronicling the madness of a national dog show, still cracks me up even though I know all of the jokes. The performances in this movie—Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge, Parker Posey, Michael McKean, John Michael Higgins, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara and Guest himself—are brilliant caricatures that you actually care about.

Book Review: "The First Rule" by Robert Crais

It takes a good author to create characters you remember. It takes a great author to get you to care about the characters enough to get invested in them time and again. Robert Crais is one of those great authors, and he has created two such characters—sarcastic private investigator Elvis Cole and his silent-but-deadly longtime friend and business partner, Joe Pike. While The First Rule focuses more on Pike, Elvis does show up to assist.

On a fairly typical night in suburban LA, importer Frank Meyer and his entire family are brutally murdered in what appears to be a robbery-motivated home invasion. But Meyer wasn't just a regular guy: he used to be a contract mercenary with Joe Pike before he left to start a family. Pike is determined to track down Frank's murderers at any cost, and runs into the police, ATF and the world of Serbian organized crime while doing so. This book has some great action and some terrific character development, and Crais has done a great job in his last several books rounding out Pike's persona more fully. While some of the action may be a little predictable, this book is a great page-turner. And you can't go wrong picking up any other of Crais' books either.

Book Review: "Where the God of Love Hangs Out" by Amy Bloom

Amy Bloom is one of my favorite authors. Some of her short stories—in Love Invents Us, Come to Me and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You—are among the best I've ever read. And her latest story collection, Where the God of Love Hangs Out, is a worthy addition to this list.

There are two sets of interrelated stories in this collection and some unrelated ones. The first set chronicles William and Clare, lifelong friends who, unbeknownst to their spouses, are falling in love with each other late in life. The stories are told from both William and Clare's points-of-view and see them both through ups and downs. The second set follows Julia, the new widow of a famous jazz musician, and her stepson, Lionel, as they make their ways through life. The other stories touch on various aspects of love, life and relationships, and each is memorable in its own way.

Bloom is at her best in this collection. In thinking about these stories, I'm struck by something a reviewer of this book said in Entertainment Weekly: Bloom's writing doesn't stop you in your tracks, but it grabs your heart. I'd agree. Don't miss this book.

Book Review: "Noah's Compass" by Anne Tyler

Sixty-one-year-old Liam Pennywell is at a bit of a crossroads. The lifelong teacher was just downsized out of a job, and he has downsized his apartment as well, moving into a smaller place in a less-savory neighborhood in Baltimore. On his first night in his new place, he goes to sleep...and wakes up in the hospital with stitches in his head and hand, apparently the victim of a burglarly gone awry. The problem is, Liam can't remember anything that happened that night after he went to sleep, a fact that causes him severe distress.

Anne Tyler's latest novel is the story of Liam's struggle to regain his memories of that night, and the struggle of his ex-wife and daughters to put up with the challenges of a perpetually-passive Liam. He comes into contact with a younger woman employed to help a wealthy executive with memory problems, and Liam hopes she will be his "rememberer" as well. But instead, she opens him up to the possibilities of a different life, one he isn't sure he can handle.

I've always enjoyed Tyler's books and the quirky characters she creates. But this book left me just as frustrated as Liam's ex-wife and daughters. Liam's passivity really detracted from my enjoyment of this book, as I found it very difficult to have any empathy for him. I guess for now, I'll need to content myself with some of Tyler's older books, like Saint Maybe or Breathing Lessons.

I'll Take "Sixth Time's the Charm" for $400, Alex...

I'm a trivia junkie. As I've commented previously, for some reason I can't remember where I put my car keys on a daily basis yet I have a fairly good grasp on classic sitcoms, state nicknames and other obscure facts. And I nourish that obsession by watching Jeopardy on a daily basis and dreaming of the day when I can tell Alex Trebek I'd like to make it a daily double.

But I'm not content to just dream about it. I've tried to have some control over my own destiny, having taken the Jeopardy quiz five times.

However, it's not all about knowledge of rivers, children's literature or holidays and observances that gets you face to face with Mr. Trebek. You see, once you pass the online test, you get put into a drawing with everyone else who passed. And only if you get selected in the drawing can you move forward and get an audition. Therein lies the challenge: if I was the only one entered into a drawing, I still wouldn't win.

There's no pessimism here. In addition to taking the Jeopardy quiz five times, I qualified for Who Wants to be a Millionaire eight times. What was the next round of that process? The drawing.

I'm taking the quiz again tonight. Of course, I'm hoping my recall of the Old Testament, biology and opera will sustain me, but more than that, I'm hoping at least to get past the drawing this time. It's ok if I don't ultimately hear my name announced on television or get the chance to "write" my name in funky letters. I'd just like the chance to succeed or fail completely on my own merits, and leave the luck of luck off the table, just this once.

Or maybe I'll switch to Wheel of Fortune. I'm good with puzzles.

Book Review: "Under the Dome" by Stephen King

It's a beautiful fall day in the town of Chester's Mill, Maine. Residents are out and about, some enjoying the day, some trying to get out of town, some beating people up in a murderous rage. And then the unthinkable happens—an invisible dome drops down over the city. Since it's invisible, many people experience what happens when you run into the dome. And then they realize they—and in fact, the entire town—are trapped.

Stephen King's Under the Dome is more a story about a town in crisis, and how people respond to that crisis, than a traditional King horror story. You have the struggle for power by a corrupt town politician, the growing panic which leads to violence, feelings of doom, etc. And then, as King uncovers where the dome came from, things get a little more interesting.

I really liked this book, but there was just too much. Too many descriptions of what happened when people ran into the dome, the power struggle ran on for far too long, scenes of violence and destruction seemed to take forever and there were so many characters in this nearly 1100-page book it was hard to keep track. Sometimes I felt as if he introduced characters just so we could see them die. But he held the book together really well, and I felt the resolution was a good one, an area where I believe King has fallen short in previous books. All in all, a very compelling, if overly long, book.

One of Life's Unanswered Questions...

What if the hokey pokey is what it's all about?