There was some talk amongst our StopSix writers of doing decade-oriented lists, since in a few days we will see the end of our current ten-year time period and the beginning of another. To list the Top 6 most significant movies of the past decade would be an impossible task, mainly limited by memory constraints. However, ten years ago I viewed and understood movies completely differently than I do now. Sadly, I have become one of those people who sees movies as art now, and one who has absolutely no desire to use movies as a mindless escape. Thus, I'd rather catalogue six different types (not genres) of movies and how my understanding and attitude towards them has developed over the past ten years.
6. The Comedy - I used to sneak into R-rated teen comedies because I thought they were funny. Fortunately, I grew up and not only understood the error of my ways, but the misdirectedness of my sense of humor. Unfortunately, movies did not grow up with me. There are far too few comedies that are actually funny these days. Most of them are content to run with a weak idea that would be overused in a three-minute digital short. One thing I've noticed is that most comedies are funnier after their lines are repeated a thousand times at parties where people aren't clever enough to come up with their own material. That's not a sign of good writing, it's a sign of an untalented public. I can't really blame them though, since their only example of multi-million dollar comedy is the same old jokes being put out by the same old groups in moderately different scenarios.
5. The Alpha Male - I also started the decade loving those awesome movies about soliders and war heroes that lead armies to destroy the forces of evil. It inspired me as a man and made me want to go out into the world and make something of myself. But it turns out that making something of yourself is not as simple as killing an evil army. That's because it turns out that the black and white of good and evil cannot be easily applied to other people or nations. I am not a pacifist, but I am not a fan of films that glamorize the alpha male desire to divide and conquer. War and violence may be necessary, but as soon as we see them as glorious rather than disparaging, we've completely missed the lessons of history. We're already there.
I heard somebody say they enjoyed the stylized violence of a film them saw, and another talk up a film because of its cathardic look at the greatest atrocities of the 20th century. I might have had similar thoughts - ten years ago.
4. The Acid Trip - The indie/artsy movie really made an splash this past decade. Heck, indie-everything was the buzzword of the first ten years of the 21st century. I am far from being a guy who lives and dies by ecclectic films; I'll be the first to argue that an artsy film has foregone depth for abstract presentation. Yet I will admit, that if done properly, there is certainly room for films that are at times bizzare. Really, you can do anything if you do it for the right reasons.
3. The Summer Blockbuster - Some of my old favorite movies were summer blockbusters. I used to love hype, and having to buy tickets in advance just to see a film was reason enough to do so. It also helps that many summer blockbusters of the previous ten years were based off of things I enjoyed as a young boy, or sequels to franchises I already loved. But as the years went along, I noticed that the sequels were not quite as good, or if I took away the nostalgia I had associated with the series, I found out that they really didn't have much to offer at all. Explosions, action and a well-placed score do little if the plot is completely uninspired. This disappointment in summer blockbusters found its pinnacle this past summer in the worst film I had seen in my life, which still made hundreds of millions of dollars. Maybe there's hope for these big-budget summer season flicks, but I'm not holding any out.
2. The Award Contender - In the past I have been quite into seeing what film gets what award, what acting performance was best and so on and so forth. And I do appreciate that nomination lists serve as a good filter for what movies I should watch. However, I hate award cermonies. I usually watch them and get really annoyed with the trivialty of materialistic Hollywood. Truthfully, the amount of awards a movie gets should not determine its value. That being said, like so many others I do tend to base merit along lines of tangible recognition - something I am trying to eradicate from my enjoyment of film as well as other areas of life.
1. The One About The Character - There are many things people will like about a movie. They may like the music, the action, the special effects, the lighting or the filmography. But what makes a movie timeless or a story powerful is the characters. I noticed that over the past decade all my favorite movies have involved a character or characters that I find impacting, aspire to be like or relate to. The movies people like say a lot about themselves, even in the case of an escapist film. That's because movies, like any form of human art, are made by people and are thus inherently about people. Our fascination with art is really just a fascination with persons.
