Movies of the Decade

As the 2010s (the teens? the tens? the-aughts-plus-ten?) crumble away into dust behind us, it’s time to take one last look at the decade we’re leaving behind – in terms of movies, of course!  Because nothing else is really real.

It was the Decade of Marvel, and it’s hard not to see that as a good thing.  Marvel proved that big action franchises didn’t have to be stupid (Transformers), slapdash (Star Wars), or stolidly mediocre (DC’s uninspired post-Nolan efforts).  Instead, they can be funny (Guardians of the Galaxy), gritty (Captain America: Winter Soldier), bold (Avengers: Endgame), and beautiful (see Dr. Strange below).  Martin Scorsese is certainly entitled to his low opinion of Marvel movies (none of which he’s actually seen), but when was the last time he made a movie as good as Dr. Strange or Captain American: Civil War?  Marvel has built the world’s most powerful movie brand on a reputation for quality – on the paradigm-shattering notion that audiences might actually enjoy good movies.  (The rest of Hollywood is still mulling this over.)

As Marvel waxed, Pixar waned, but Inside Out was an undeniable highlight (and so was Toy Story 3).  The Hunger Games was the most consistently excellent film series, while X-Men was perhaps the most wildly inconsistent.  And smaller films made their impression too – from Winter’s Bone to Lady Bird to Inside Llewyn Davis to The Babadook.

But enough preamble; let’s get to the list.  If these weren’t the best movies released in the last decade, they were certainly my personal favorites.

Keith’s Top 10 of the 2010s

1.     Whiplash

Lean, mean, and cinematically exhilarating, Whiplash is like pure movie magic injected straight into the vein.

2.     Inside Out

One of the most brilliantly imaginative movies I’ve ever seen – a dazzling feat of invention that never loses sight of the simple human story at its core.

3.     Edge of Tomorrow

Definitely the most underrated movie of the decade – a clever, thrilling, and visceral action spectacle.

4.     Her

Quietly visionary and tenderly personal, this is that rare film that combines genuine futurism with genuine feeling.

5.     Dr. Strange

The best of Marvel’s many astonishing achievements over the last decade – a jaw-dropping visual experience, deftly plotted, and with moments of real profundity.  I’ll never forget the Ancient One pausing on the brink of eternity to watch the falling snow…

6.     Life Itself

A tour de force of documentary filmmaking, and a stirring, heartbreaking portrait of one of cinema’s greatest champions.

7.     Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

The high-water mark in one of the best action series ever – twisty, suspenseful, and genuinely frightening.

8.     Mad Max: Fury Road

A throwback to a time when action movies had – if you’ll pardon the expression – balls.  What amazes me about this movie isn’t just the virtuosic action set pieces, but the way the story keeps spiraling dizzily onward, at the speed of a souped-up post-apocalyptic dune buggy.  An amazing narrative feat.

9.     Looper

Ruthlessly clever and fearlessly bleak.  An all-time great time-travel movie.

10.  Captain America: Civil War

Of all the great Marvel movies of the last decade, this is the one that feels the most like reading a really good comic book – full of action, intrigue, and emotion, and grounded enough to be more than just a fantasy.

Honorable Mentions

Hell or High Water

Marvel’s The Avengers

Free Solo

Inside Llewyn Davis

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Inception

10 Cloverfield Lane

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Babadook

Special Prize for Achievement in Comedy

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

And now, on into the 20s!  We’ll see if we can’t make some good movies in the next ten years…

Book Report 2019

I read 33 books in 2019, which I believe is a personal record.  (Apparently Stephen King reads 50-70 books per year, but that guy isn’t human, so it doesn’t count.)

Below, just for fun, is my Top Ten list for the year.

1.     Miss Pym Disposes, Josephine Tey

A strange and wonderful book – witty, compassionate, vividly written, and as far from conventional crime fiction as anything in Tey’s unique and enchanting oeuvre.

2.     Z for Zachariah, Robert C. O’Brien

Spare, harrowing, moving, masterful.  Not an easy book to read, but an easy book to admire.

3.     The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain

An extraordinary book – spare, brutal, and heartbreaking, like a wail of anguish sent by telegraph from Hell.

4.     A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge

A little repetitive from a narrative point of view, but packed with fascinating ideas, and often unexpectedly moving.  A Fire Upon the Deep is a novel both epic and intimate – a staggering feat of imagination, and a damn good read.

5.     Too Many Cooks, Rex Stout

The mystery itself is nothing to write home about, but the setting and characters more than make up for it, and the book offers a very intriguing glimpse of the racial politics of the pre-WWII South.

6.     Dream Golf, Stephen Goodwin

A bit long and a bit redundant – and definitely written for golf aficionados more than ordinary human beings – this is nevertheless a vividly told and inspiring story of perseverance, vision, and the power of a guiding ideal.

7.     Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz

Slightly plodding, but very clever, with two layers of mystery satisfactorily resolved.  In some ways, reading Magpie Murders really is like reading two different books, but each book is pretty involving in its own right, and the connections between them add another level of interest.  Impressive stuff.

8.     Fer-de-Lance, Rex Stout

The pleasure of these Nero Wolfe mysteries is the world they inhabit – a hard-boiled but mercifully rational world, where every problem responds to the application of enough patience and intelligence, where bullies are made to look like fools in the fullness of time, where dinner is always served on time and there is always plenty of milk for Archie Goodwin to drink.  It's astonishing how well-developed that world already is in this, the first of the Nero Wolfe mysteries; it's as if it was always there, patiently waiting for Rex Stout to discover it.  We can only be glad he did.

9.     The Antiquary, Sir Walter Scott

A perilously slight novel, with precious little story to speak of, but so abundantly warm and charming that all other considerations are cheerfully forgotten. All in all, a delight.

10.  The Brides of Solomon, Geoffrey Household

A mixed bag, but Household is always enjoyable. His writing is characterized by an almost uncanny worldliness, as if he had seen everything, done everything, and thoroughly understood it all. War looms large over this collection, but chiefly as a backdrop for humor, heroism, and humanity. “Moment of Truth” is extraordinary – spare and deep and stunning. For that alone, this book is worth reading - but do yourself a favor and read the rest, too.

With Apologies to John Donne

Every man is an island,

Every woman an island, too, 

And the seas between them are rough,

And the boats ply them fitfully;

And every man is lonely,

As he watches the pounding shore,

And dreams of a worldwide continent

He knows he will never see;

But sometimes a drifting bottle

With a message in its hold

Will come ashore on the island,

Having skirted the whole archipelago,

And although the ink is blotted 

And the paper is waterlogged,

Some words can still be distinguished,

Some meaning, at length, teased out;

Then every suffering island

Is linked in a gleaming chain;

For a moment, the islands mingle,

And the world has a single soul.

Song for December

Winter is firelight,

Flickering madly

Over the mantel and onto the floor;

Winter is listening –

Listening gladly –

For bells in the distance and hands on the door.

Winter is music,

All music and silence –

The hush of the snow and the song of the trees;

Winter is wind,

With its casual violence –

The roar in the chimney, the house on its knees.

And winter is wonder,

A time for a child,

A season of innocence, new or new-found;

Winter is tender,

And winter is wild,

And waking, one morning, to snow on the ground.