Catching Up

Apologies for falling off the face of the Earth this week. It was a rough one in every way imaginable, but have no fear, I'll be back up and running in no time.

In the meantime, I have some reviews up and running on antiMusic, so check those out.

• Fantastic Mr. Fox soundtrack review is here
• A big Anvil piece review of their live show and an interview here.
  
• Other antiMusic reviews are here

More soon...

xT

"If you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." Conan's Farewell to the Tonight Show

I have been experiencing a crisis of faith as of late. Don’t worry about me, when I see news reports from Haiti or people living in tents, it shakes you back to reality. However, in recent years I have found myself profoundly disgusted by the greed and ego that rules the world. I see good people struggling to make ends meet and I see bad people, very-very bad people, get wealthier and not give a second thought to those who are less fortunate or who they walk over in the process.

Now, can you really be sympathetic for a guy who basically made $33-million for eight months work? Not really especially considering the state of the economy, what’s going on in Haiti and the hell in our own personal lives, however, as I watched Conan on Friday night (and the entire week leading up to the show) I couldn’t help but sense a profound attachment to the man and his struggle. What so many people are identifying with is the corporate BS being dealt with here. We have all worked for people and corporations where they manage to do the thing that makes the least amount of sense and O’Brien’s exit from NBC is no different.

In recent years those in a position to sacrifice without having their way of life affected in a negative way have more times than not been given a free pass while many of us stand on the sidelines and watch opportunities, hopes and dreams disappear into the air where we believe they are gone forever. But on Friday night, I got teary eyed at Conan’s final speech.

"To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: Please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere."

I don’t write for a living…I write because I have to. While it’s fun to take jabs at people here and there, cynicism isn’t my forte. I want to believe that everyone who write a book, creates music or is in the film industry does so because they are passionate about it. They’re not, but it won’t stop me from believing.

But then when he said this, well, it hit me hard;

"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

I’m not sure if he is right or wrong. But when he said this, I felt hopeful. I felt optimistic and despite the shitstorm that we’re all in the middle of…for the first time in a long time, hearing those words made me feel like everything was going to be OK. Even if it’s not, I believe in those words, I believe in those actions and I’ll be damned if I’m going to change anything.

Thanks Coco-see you further on up the road.

Watch the farewell at this link.

Album Review: John Mellencamp – ‘Life, Death, Live and Freedom’ (Live EP)

John Mellencamp – ‘Life, Death, Live and Freedom’
Hear Music
Album Review (4-Stars)
By Anthony KuzminskiOnce a musician attains a certain level of success the intricacy in finding the muse isn’t as effortless as it may seem. You begin to query everything you do, spend more time writing and recording the lead single than you do the other ten songs for the record. And if the end result does not ascertain a certain level of success, a crisis of faith evolves. Some artists eventually realize that trying to keep up with a rat race is a losing game and just turn inward. It’s often only when this happens that they are truly free…when they stop worrying about pleasing share holders and suits at the big four record labels. The latter part of the 1990’s and the first part of the 2000’s were a trying time for John Mellencamp. He had a consistent string of solid records that never got the push they deserved by the labels, but they don’t hold the blame alone. During this time, Mellencamp’s shows became shorter and shorter with each tour and if one was lucky, they would see two new songs from the latest record. His reliance on his back catalog eventually became a liability. When I was sent to review Mellencamp in the fall of 2007, I stopped wishing he’d do a three hour show and dig into his catalog for some invigorating chestnuts. I just went to have fun and I’d report about it, nothing more-nothing less. But what happened on that fall night was an eye opening bombshell. Gone was the macho bravado that had encompassed most of his shows for the better part of three decades and in its place was a stoical artist who once again embodied my struggles, your struggles and the struggles of the world at whole. It was as if I was laying eyes on an artist I had never heard about in a small smoky club. On this particular evening, Mellencamp played five unreleased songs. Some of these performances have just recently been released on his new live EP Life, Death, Live & Freedom. These live performances sent shivers not just down my spine, but into my soul as well.

Over the course of the next year, I watched this artist who had drifted from my consciousness build himself and his art from the ground up and reinvent himself in ways I never thought were possible. He continued to road test material even though it would be months before it would be released. When it was finally released in July of 2008, Life, Death, Love and Freedom was more than a return to form, it was the magnum opus I have been expecting from him for the better part of his career. Make no mistake, I felt that his run of albums from 1982 to 1994 (American Fool through Dance Naked) is one of the modern eras truly illustrious periods of creativity. What LDL&F embodies is a record that no one possibly apart from the dearly departed Timothy White thought was possible from the once named Johnny Cougar. The tour leading up to the album’s release was some of the most intimate shows of his career. It doesn’t matter that the arenas were larger than many of the theatres he performed in during 1997. This was all about reestablishing a bond with his audience. Speaking to the audience in a way he hadn’t done in decades. The Mellencamp shows of the latter 90’s and early part of this decade left me cold. Mellencamp barely acknowledged the audience and no matter how imaginative his arrangements were of classic material, he all but ignored his recent albums. Once an artist stops trying to challenge his audience, they stop evolving and in my opinion they may as well stop creating. Mellencamp produced a number of fine albums during this time, but when it came time to tour them, he fell back into routine and would perform only one or two new songs, most often the radio hits.

The 2007-2008 tour was a soulful resurrection of a man who had faced death and came out on the other side, creatively and physically. For the previous decade true revelation remained shrouded in mystery with only minor hints bubbling to the surface and for the first time in his storied career, Mellencamp decided these performances should live on beyond those who observed those fall and winter nights. It’s stunning to realize that it took Mellencamp 33-years after his debut record to release a live recording that was something more than a few B-sides. The performances housed on the live EP Life, Death, Live & Freedom feature Mellencamp at his most severe and sincere. The most astounding track of both albums is “Longest Days”; where the narrator’s careless days of youthfulness have vanished and is now facing death head on. This is the voice of a man with great astuteness. Mellencamp’s cutting lyrics are accompanied merely by six-strings, and even in this most naked of formats the song is an epiphany for the ages. The unforgiving realities of the world crumble around you when you hear the lyric, “Sometimes you get sick and you don’t get better” it encompasses you in full. The fragility of life is established by a performance just as delicate allowing the audience to let the music sink in. It’s easy to turn up the volume and sweep people away in a dreamless state, but it’s far more meaningful when you are given something to sink your teeth into.

By living in the Midwest and not in a high income zip code on one of the coasts, Mellencamp has seen the horrors that the recent economic climate has brought upon the majority of this country, which he exposes on “Troubled Land”. On the line “We can turn up our collars/ And never even try” he sings with a man who is pissed at what will be left for his children and grandchildren. He’s not merely performing, but expunging the anger from within. “If I Die Sudden” features a lashing vocal that hits home. It’s more stinging live than even on record. Andy York’s fingers glide with the soul of a lost bluesman providing punctuation to the song allowing us to seep in and feel the desperation. The performances of “Jena” weren’t just judicious, but its delivery (by the full band) with an awareness of its subject matter leaves you with a life lesson. In a world so gung-ho on political correctness, performances like this are absent on most live performances these days. “Don’t Need This Body” is performed on an acoustic with nominal instrumentation allowing the bitter lyrics to snap at you. The narrator speaks from a journeyman’s soul. “Young Without Lovers” is performed by Mellencamp with nothing more than his acoustic; a vexing tale that invigorated the crowd enough for them to assist Mellencamp on the chorus, but the eeriness of the verses stick with you after the song and applause fades out. “A Ride Back Home” features a pleading vocal from a man who is closer to the end than the beginning. In the lyric of “My time's come and gone/ It's as simple as that”, Mellencamp brings the song to a halt to ensure the crowd could linger on every last word. This is a man who despite all of his hopes and dreams, the world is proving to be too troublesome for even him and is looking for guidance from above. It’s a leap of faith from the narrator to embrace a higher power at this stage in life and as you hear the raucous applause at the end of this track, it is evident the crowd is looking for guidance as well and Mellencamp is driving the train of redemption. “My Sweet Love” ends the live EP with upbeat momentum. Despite the somber tales of anguish and despondency, John Mellencamp finds a way to fortify his audience and impart them with optimism alluding to how the forbidden fruit of love can elevate you even at your most desperate hour. Like a folk artist from the 1960’s Mellencamp is traveling down dark corridors of the American psyche and what differentiates him from others is that he’s doing it with conviction.

John Mellencamp was a man who lived his life to the fullest and is trying to impart some of his wisdom with his audience. This is the record of a wise man who has seen all life has to offer and despite all of his accolades and success but has the common sense to know this all won’t last forever. I witnessed two shows on the 2007-2008 tour and both times Mellencamp was delivering a message of hope and despair with a sense of down-home intimacy. It was as if I had entered another world where he created music without the weight of his past. Life, Death, Live and Freedom showcases Mellencamp at his most prosaic and philosophical. This is him as his most real since Human Wheels. I watched this man who had filled my dreams with faith, helped me cope with fear and who at times flat out disappointed me evolve into something else. That concert tour and this new live release (his first in his career) finds John Mellencamp rejuvenated with the purpose of being an artist. He once was lost but now was found…amazing grace indeed.

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

The Artist of the Decade: Ryan Adams

I’m standing in Chicago’s Riviera Theatre in March of 2002. About two-hours into a concert by Ryan Adams, I am praying for it to die a quick death or to resurrect itself. The show meanders for another forty-minutes before Adams calls it a night and disappears into the darkness. Aside from seeing the Pussycat Dolls insult every sense in my body, this performance by Adams still ranks as the single worse concert I attended by a headliner in the last decade. I walked in hoping I would find an artist to follow and one who would be with me for the journey of life. There are music acts you love but know time will not be kind to and then there are acts that you can sense can go the long haul. With the release of ‘Gold’ six months earlier, I was hoping Ryan Adams would be one of those artists; someone who would be more than a distraction but an artistic force who would transform my view of the world. I walked back out into the brisk Chicago air feeling deflated, never wanting to set my expectations so high for an artist ever again. As I type these words nearly eight years later, I can’t think of another artist whose music crawled into my soul, enlightened me and in the end will stand the test of time for decades to come. In a mere ten years, Ryan Adams released ten studio albums containing 144-songs. This is a staggering amount of material for a career, let alone one stand-alone decade. Not to mention a slew of EP’s and exclusive songs that didn’t make these records plus side projects that were only heard on the net. Hell, there’s a box set in the works that is rumored to house another fifty songs minimally. Ryan Adams to the 00’s was the Prince of the alt-country world; for every song he released, there were three or four more we never heard. Many cynics, including myself, often chastised Adams for not having a filter in releasing this material. From a commercial perspective, it would have made better sense to save up his ten or twelve best songs and then release one killer record, but in the world of Ryan Adams, if he wrote and recorded forty-plus songs, he wanted them all released (which in 2005 happened over a seven month period where he released three separate albums of material, one of them being a double). In the wake of that disappointing performance in the late winter/early spring of 2002, I wanted to write Ryan Adams off as a waste of talent, but I couldn’t. I kept being lured back into his web of musical mystery.

‘Demolition’ in the fall of 2002 found me reveling in the glory of his rich lyrics while ‘Rock n Roll’ in the fall of 2003 showed me Adams could still rock with the best even if I felt the lyric writing wasn’t up to par. However, one listen to “So Alive” and I felt just that, alive. It was as if you hit an open road, let the roof down and had nothing but an open road of optimism as the wind blows through your hair. Two EP’s were released in the fall of ’03 and then in ’04 as a full record, ‘Love Is Hell’ which proved to be a tour de force emotional triumph that proved to me, that when Adams wanted to, he could be a master storyteller and manipulator of emotions. His cover of “Wonderwall” is downright haunting and he didn’t even write it. In 2005, Adams enraged me with three separate album releases, ‘Cold Roses’, ‘Jacksonville City Nights’ and ‘29’. The first two had a profound Nashville country swamp influence while ‘29’ was a lingering exploration of mostly solo songs. None were masterpieces and all felt disjointed to me in some form and fashion. It was at this point I felt Adams was slipping into irrelevancy. There was too much music, so little of it was speaking to me and he would have been better suited carefully choosing a dozen of the best. It was at this time when I officially bid Mr. Adams adieu as I couldn’t relate to him in any form or fashion.

Over the course of 2005, 2006 and 2007, something I hadn’t anticipated occurred. I slowly began to discover the wonder of the three records released in 2005. I still felt that these were the three weakest of the ten he released this past decade (only ‘29’ came close to being chosen for my Top 100 of the decade), but individual songs began to jump out at me. “A Kiss Before I Go” pays homage to vintage Willie Nelson, the overwrought “Dear John” (with some assistance from Norah Jones) broke my heart, “How Do You Keep Love Alive” was as serious as a heart attack while “Dance All Night” reminded me that when one wants to dance their problems away, Adams was still capable of creating fist pumping anthems for us to lose ourselves in. “Nightbirds” showed a subtle and soft glimpse into a world of chaos full of broken dreams. While I never lost myself in any of these records, whenever a random song came on the iPod shuffle, I was transfixed. Like Bob Dylan in the 1980’s, I was learning that Ryan Adams wasn’t someone whom you could expect to follow the rules of the music industry. He creates in a world where there are no release dates and each album was a pronouncement of his state of mind during a specific chapter in his life. Excising songs, good or bad ones, would have been akin to erasing certain days and weeks from your mind. Your life may or may not be better for those lost memories or songs, but you wouldn’t be complete. What makes Ryan Adams…Ryan Adams is their insatiable drive to never surrender and to always create. With great music, it always boils down to the songs and Adams may be one of the finest of his generation. Even when albums left me dissatisfied, I always found a handful of songs that I felt would stand the test of time and would be performed by other artists months, years and decades from now.

Early in 2007, it was announced Adams would release his ninth record, ‘Easy Tiger’ and to promote it, he would perform a series of intimate gigs across the country. I threw my hat in the ring to cover the concert and I found myself in the Biograph Theater in Chicago. The Biograph Theater is rather legendary as it’s where John Dillinger was gunned down in the 1934 and has recently been refurbished into a gorgeous 300-seat theater providing an intimate experience no matter what the occasion. My only concern going into the show was whether there would be some sort of massacre on the concert stage. Would Ryan Adams rise to the occasion or wallow in his own excess. Adams and his band came out at 8:15 and strummed and swayed ever so gently for the next 95-minutes. The performance wasn't epic, it wasn't rocking...it wasn't even rolling...but one thing I can say (and I hope I don't sound too melodramatic) is that Ryan Adams was reborn. The 20-song performance was nothing short of astonishing. This was the first time I laid witness to the genius of Ryan Adams. I saw an artist in command of his music and stage presence. More importantly, my faith was renewed. Adams has a knack for channeling the emotions of mislaid souls who are seeking more from their life. At the Biograph, his performance was indomitable which allowed his songs to be properly presented and heard. “Everybody Knows” and “Halloween Head” showed the charismatic but reserved Adams really excise demons when the lyrics soared from his lungs. He even pulled out “Down in the Hole” an Alice in Chains cover that not so coincidentally was sung by someone who lost the battle of fighting with his demons, Layne Staley. As Ryan sang “Down In The Hole” his hands wavered in the air as if he was conducting an orchestra but I saw this as him taking control of his life and his career with a stirring and moving performance no one will soon forget. He exuded staggering confidence and artistry over the course of the show, proving he’s capable of greatness, also showcased on ‘Easy Tiger’. The production quality of ‘Tiger’ is transcendent, as is the EP released later in the year, ‘Follow The Lights’. On ‘Easy Tiger’, Adams culled thirteen tracks and somehow, elevated their stature with momentous performances and glowing sonic textures and is a staggering testament to what he can accomplish when he’s clear headed and focused. In late 2008, Adams released ‘Cardinology’ where he strived for the fences with a collection of songs ready-made for arena arms-to-the-air swaying. These aren’t the most audacious of his career (and it does lose some steam towards the end) but as a whole it’s a rather stellar and consistent affair. Instead of a distant third person narrative, Adams draws from within and gives us a record that feels like a return to his early career where we feel these stories gliding off his tongue with ease and excitement. Instead of knocking out everything that inspired him, it feels like he spent more time crafting these and it shows.

As I looked back upon this decade, I found Ryan Adams to have more songs that spoke to me than any other artist. More importantly, his collected body of work, for better or worse, will stand the test of time. His legend will only grow with time. The 144-songs he wrote, recorded and released during this past decade are a rich enough to defy age. In a day and age where other acts were more flamboyant or spent years crafting one or two records, I’ve come to admire Adams reckless abandonment for his art. He is a true artist who time will be kind to. I only hope the next decade holds as many treasures as this one.
Ultimately, Ryan Adams continues to invigorate me with a flowing, ingenious and alluring songs that remind me that redemption in rock n’ roll is not a myth but a reality. He disappeared into a murky existence from time to time but like a phoenix, he always rose from the ashes. A true artist follows their own muse and doesn’t let corporations dictate their output and as maddening as it may be, in the end, when the fame passes, and the old magazine covers are recycled, all future generations will be left with are the music and in the last decade, no one created more maddening, invigorating and enlightening music than Ryan Adams and for this reason alone is why I am crowning him, “The Artist of the Decade”.

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

"We were hungry for anything that had a pulse" Butch Walker performed 'Sycamore Meadows' in Chicago 1/7/10

Butch Walker
Schubas Tavern-Chicago, IL
January 7th, 2010
Night #3 of 4, the ‘Sycamore Meadows’ show
By Anthony Kuzminski

{All pictures courtesy of Billie Jo Sheehan}

• Read night one's review of 'Letters' here
• Read night two's review of 'The Rise & Fall...' here
• Read my full 'Sycamore Meadows' album review here
• Read my preview article written prior to 'Sycamore' here
  

The first two nights of Butch Walker’s four night stand in Chicago found him looking back, but on the third evening, it found him in the not too distant past. The short of it all is that Walker went through some sort of personal tragedy in 2007 and then in November of that year his Malibu home (which he just moved in to with all of his personal belongings) was burned to the ground in the California wildfires. We didn’t know it at the time, but Walker was experiencing a severe case of writer’s block. When I spoke with him the following August, he told me “I had writer’s block and felt like I had nothing left to say…until after the fire”. The thing about it is that Sycamore Meadows at this particular time had been delayed. Despite Walker moving on with his life, I could still sense a need to cleanse himself.

I caught a few surprise shows in conjunction with his Lollapalooza performance and what I witnessed was a changed man. At the time, I felt as if he was still working through those demons trying to wrestle with himself trying to purge his pain through songs. After Lollapalooza, he returned to the studio, re-recorded much of the record and it appeared a few months later. Sycamore Meadows is a dreamy and raw vista full of insurrectionary rage finding a fine balance between innocence and experience. When I saw him a few months later after the release of Sycamore, it was as if a weight had been lifted from him. Inside Schubas, while he’s clearly in a better spot, he still finds a way to find himself inside these twelve songs. As Walker took his seat on the Schubas stage, he informed the crowd “your city destorys me” with a glinting smile. Moments later Walker (accompanied by Gregory MacDonald) kicked off with “The Weight of Her”, a gushing throwback with all guns blazing. Each show during the course of the week was distinctive, but this one was assisted by a mental union Walker still feels to the material. Sycamore Meadows was a largely restrained affair so what we heard at this show was a close reproduction of the actual album.

“Going Back/Going Home” is a discreet life-affirming reflective song where he offers up insight into his entire life and career but at the end it becomes apparent that he indeed is in tune with himself and where he needs to go. It’s true, you have to go home and acknowledge your past in order to go on with the future. This performance was pure bliss. “Here Comes The…” was done on piano with a muscular vocal with the audience filling in the blanks. “Ponce De Leon Ave” evoked a shade of soul despite having only Walker’s voice and his guitar. “Vessels” was breathtaking with its burgeoning performance on a twelve-string acoustic. “Passed Your Place, Saw Your Car, Thought of You” found Walker on the organ providing bedroom intensity as he wavered between a delicate performance and a heart rendering vocal. “The 3 Kids in Brooklyn” was vociferous with a mandolin and heart-racing bass drum kick (provided by Walker). He even shook up the sequencing by performing a Patsy Cline song, “I’ve Got Your Picture”. The story he told of his father playing country music when he was younger was illuminating and amusing. George Jones, Waylon & Willie were performed on a regular basis by his father and Walker admitted to dismissing all of it in favor of KISS. Butch was plugged in for this one and the performance was nothing short of great as Walker appreciates and has an intense appreciation for the art of songwriting and did his best to evoke those who have come before.

The evening’s high spot was “Ships in a Bottle”, done on electric guitar with barely a hint of echoy reverb, adding to the sensation of the lingering vocal. His delivery was wrenching as if he was wrestling with a demon right on the stage in front of us as he painted broad and vivid pictures. This was without question, his greatest vocal performance of the entire four night stand. Whether the delivery of the material was straightforward or not, it didn’t matter. The songs leapt out at you waving you down to take notice. Of the three complete albums Walker performed, this was his most recent and as a result, it houses emotions and stories that are still raw. These songs aren’t distant memories, but feelings he can still reach out and touch with little issue.

Sycamore Meadows is an endearing record because of the brutal truth expinged by Walker, standing on top of a confessional tearing himself apart for all to see and judge. It’s a tricky feat, yet one that is hard to criticize, because when someone bares their soul, you can’t pick at them, because they’re not hiding anything. Sycamore Meadows features an artist at a crossroads with his foot on the gas pedal full speed ahead towards redemption with a unified and assertive collection of songs and the beauty of it all is that his audience finds themselves deeply entrenched in these songs as well. When this happens, it’s more than mere entertainment, but therapeutic.

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

Exclusive new Paul McCartney album ‘Live In Los Angeles’ free in this week’s Mail on Sunday newspaper

One of the greatest live experiences of my life was seeing Paul McCartney at Amoeba Records in the summer of 2007. You can read about it here. Some tracks have found their way out since that performance but this upcoming weekend in the UK, if you buy a newspaper, you can get a twelve track sampler. Read on.

Exclusive new Paul McCartney album ‘Live In Los Angeles’ free in this week’s Mail on Sunday newspaper. This twelve-track CD from Paul’s performance at the Amoeba Music record store in Hollywood on 27th June 2007 includes two-Grammy nominated performances – I Saw Her Standing There (Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance) and That Was Me (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance) –along with ten other live favourites.

The full tracklist is:
Drive My Car
Only Mama Knows
Dance Tonight
C Moon
That Was Me
Blackbird
Here Today
Back In The USSR
Get Back
Hey Jude
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There

Available free with the Mail on Sunday in the UK & Ireland on Sunday 17th January
2010 only.

Butch Walker Completes Chicago Residency with Extraordinary Set List

I’m still catching up from a frantic week. All four Butch Walker shows were really illuminating and revealing. Not only was it nice to see full albums done top-to-bottom, but the fourth night was all requests and the 90-minute show was nothing short of blissful. I’ll get shorter reviews up on the blog later this week and in-depth reviews on antiMusic the week before his new record hits stores.

Read reviews of night one (‘Letters’) here and night two (‘The Rise & Fall…’) here.

Please check out the amazing pictures from Butch's New York stand at this link.

The set list for the fourth night in Chicago is below.

Schubas Tavern
Chicago 1-8-10 Set List
Chicago, IL

1. Wreck Me
2. Let Me Go (on piano)
3. Last Flight
4. All Falls Apart
5. Vampires In Love
6. Every Monday
7. Mrs. Jackson
8. Always Something There To Remind Me (Naked Eyes cover)
9. Cigarette Lighter Love Song
10. The Good In Everyone (Sloan cover)
11. Canadian Ten
12. Suspicious Minds (Elvis cover)
13. Grant Park
14. Is She Really Going Out With Him (Joe Jackson cover)
15. Steady As She Goes (Raconteurs cover)
16. She Likes Hair Bands (New song)
17. Valium
18. I’m A Believer (Monkees cover)
19. El Scorcho (Weezer cover)
20. Laid (James cover)
21. Beautiful
22. Suburbia
23. Take Tomorrow

"Memories will keep us alive" Butch Walker peforms 'The Rise and Fall...' in Chicago (1-6-2010)

Butch Walker
Schubas Tavern-Chicago, IL
January 6th, 2010
Night #2 of 4, the ‘The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites’ show
By Anthony Kuzminski

Note: A more in-depth piece will be coming on antiMusic in a few weeks where we’ll have a full week of Butch Walker articles.

• Read the first night review of the Letters show at this link

Grace was the first girl Willy ever kissed growing up in Virginia and little did he know it, but Grace would be his wife and companion for the better part of a few decades until he could no longer remember her. She died one year before he did, but there was a beauty in her death. Will sadly had Alzheimer’s yet during the final year of his life, he wasn’t fully aware that Grace had passed, so he thought she was with him right until the end. In a day and age where couples seem to be addicted to drama, this is a great love story. The sad thing is I have heard the story, but I never listened to it. The above story is about the grandparents of Butch Walker immortalized in the song “Dominoes”, a song I have largely misinterpreted and shrugged off over the last few years. It’s in the middle of a rather scorching record that indulges in Friday-night excess and as a result, I felt it was a poor man’s “Joan” (a multifaceted piano ballad on Walker’s Letters). The Rise & Fall… has always been a record I couldn’t get my head around and as a result, I overlooked many of the songs on the record and didn’t seem them as being up to Walker’s high standards. In Schubas Tavern on Walker’s second of four nights, he proved me wrong by bringing the crowd into his own little personal world for a few moments. With a simple story, he completely changed my view of the song and how I feel about it emotionally and let me tell you, there wasn’t a person at Schubas who isn’t better for him telling it.

In a day and age of musical surplus, if an album doesn’t connect it might not get the same number of spins it would have two-decades ago. As a result, The Rise & Fall… never made an overpowering impression on me and was a record I admired more than loved. That changed at Schubas. This was the one show I wasn’t looking forward to, but it may turn out to be my favorite as Walker defied my impressions of this record with a pure and illuminating performance. Unlike the previous evening, Walker had his electric guitar plugged in for a large part of the evening, which he made a point of pointing out by saying “Electric guitar meet Chicago”, and right from the opening chords of “Hot Girls In Good Moods”, he seemed to be in high spirits. As Walker explained to the crowd, he was in a good place when he wrote and recorded the album and it didn’t produce his most brooding and contemplative songs, but some of his most muscular.


He was playful with the crowd and there was more of a loose atmosphere. As he begun “Ladies & Gentlemen…” this record opened up for me in ways I never imagined. The tongue-twisting lyrics were front and center and the “la-la” chorus was in full force with a little help from the crowd. “Bethamphetamine (Pretty Pretty) was energizing with some raging strumming on an acoustic. While not as soul bearing as previous records, you can’t deny the hooks in this one. “Too Famous To Get Fully Dressed” was exuberant while “We’re All Going Down” was one of the few songs not performed live on the initial tour in support of the record. Moody and spacious, it had an intricate vocal from Walker. “Sometimes you regret songs” is how he introduced “Paid To Get Excited”. “Did I just hear him say that?” I thought to myself. In a world where we’re besieged by PR blitzes where the truth is grey, it was refreshing to see an act disown a song. The truth is we all evolve as humans every moment on this earth and artists are no different. What we watched was more than the progression of an artist over these intimate shows…but a human as well. This isn’t someone who is selling out their values, but a truthful admission. In a day and age where you can smell bullshit a mile away, this was refreshing. I love “Song Without a Chorus” but the album version left me cold, but once again (like it was on the 2005 tour) it was charming. “The Taste of Red” was performed on a twelve-string guitar and I couldn’t help but wish it was on the bar’s jukebox to be played later. A whimsical and romantically sweeping song was delivered in an arrangement that wouldn’t have been out of place on Letters. There was even a cover, “Common People” by Pulp. It was biting and preceeded with some hilarious banter from a fan who when Butch introduced the song as by “a band that never broke through” and a fan gleefully shouted out “Hall and Oates” to a wide smile by Walker who couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

A night of second chances as I reveled in the brilliance of songs I dismissed many years ago. This is what differentiates pop stars from artists. A pop star delivers you note for note replications thast won’t sway you one way or another, but an artist pushes you out of your comfortzone and makes you take a hard look at yourself in the process. A great artist is always evolving, pushing the envelope and on nights like this one, reinventing your thought process about their work. Letters housed a bedroom intensity where each song felt like a confessional, but on The Rise and Fall… Walker had the amps turned up to 11 and in the process, a few songs got lost, but were rediscovered during this show. Ultimately musicians are storytellers and are our vessels to better understanding ourselves. Butch Walker showed sides of himself during this second show I’d never seen before. Our pain makes more sense when we decipher a lyric and our joys are that more joyous when the riotous music truly takes us away. Everyone has a story to tell no matter how small or insignificant, but they need a narrator to tell it convinceingly. For an album about panties- around-the-ankles debauchery this was a sacred moment. On this second night, Butch Walker, the storyteller came out and illuminated us in ways no one could have forseen.

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

Photo Credit

"Trying to get to you cause I let you go" Butch Walker performs 'Letters' in Chicago

Butch Walker
Schubas Tavern-Chicago, IL
Night #1 of 4, the ‘Letters’ show
By Anthony Kuzminski

Note: A more in-depth piece will be coming on antiMusic in a few weeks where we’ll have a full week of Butch Walker articles.

Arriving on stage in a hat, flannel shirt and jeans, Butch Walker began his four night stand at Schubas night club in Chicago by joking with the crowd how the opening track on his 2004 album Letters was nothing more than a bunch of overlapping high pitched vocals…before he nearly replicated “Sunny Day Real Estate”, a twenty-six second intro to his revealing Letters record. He’s hitting a smattering of cities (New York, LA, Chicago, and Atlanta) and is tackling three albums top-to-bottom and a fourth night of requests is something the core fans salivate for and Walker is doing it with great imminence but even better, he’s conveying the songs with believability.

Letters was my formal introduction to Butch Walker and the album, steeped in heartache and melancholy yet painted with wide and lush pop brush strokes. Just last week, I declared the record the sixth best of the decade, so to see the full album performed in a cozy venue is a opportunity I couldn’t miss. Accompanied by his friend George (from the Canadian band Sloan) on piano, Walker surged ahead with a smile inducing “Maybe It’s Just Me”, delivered with lamenting strumming and some rather fabulous organ fills. Up next was “Mixtape” and to my astonishment, it was sung in a hushed manner where one could hear a pin drop in the crowd. Walker’s shows are known for the fanatical sing-a-longs his fans provide but on this evening, everyone seemed to get the note that these shows were small, intimate and about the albums, so for the most part, the crowd stayed tight lipped allowing the songs to breathe. Walker barely touched his acoustic during the song, allowing the lyrics to fall from his lips and feel as if a close friend was sharing a confessional with you. The entire evening showed these songs in a more laissez-faire approach. Despite being unplugged and not having a band behind him, he was able to show the songs stand on their own, with beefed up production or not. “#1 Summer Jam” featured snippets of “Cruel To Be Kind” and “Silly Love Songs”, but it was Walker’s lyrics that jumped out at the crowd. Beneath the sunny strumming, are some of the most beseeching lyrics Walker ever has committed to paper. Listening to a Butch Walker record is akin to a long and deep conversation with a close friend. One of the reasons for Walker’s expanding fan base is the genuine truth with which he conveys his material. Nothing seems to be too personal to commit to tape. We all feel like these are letters we would write in the depths of despair, albeit with less poetic magic.

“So At Last” was complimented by a 12-string acoustic while the cleaning confessional “Uncomfortably Numb” was done on a mandolin featuring Taylor Swift’s “You Belong To Me” in its entirety in the middle of the song. Walker has always had a penchant for doing charming covers and this one was no different. What made is distinctive was the way he weaved it so fluently into one of his own songs. “Joan” was understated as ever. “Don’t Move” while still affecting featured a more self-possessed vocal, yet it was equally devastating. With the exception of “Lights Out” this was an unplugged evening where the personal nature of the songs was on display for everyone to hear, see and feel. “Lights Out” was reworked in a drenched bluesy reverb that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Black Keys record, one of the evening’s many highlights.

When Letters was released in 2004, Walker had made a name for himself as a top tier producer and someone with an ear for melody, but Letters was his true arrival as it stood next to anything on the radio at the time and was equally weighty in smaller circles where word of mouth of his performances spread like wildfire. Walker mastered his production techniques on his most enlightening and profoundly personal record of his career (at that time). The stories, like “Joan”, feel so real they have a documentary edge to them and the reason people get lost in them is they feel as if Butch stole a page from their diary. Walker admitted to the crowd that he wrote these songs so long ago that he has issues getting in the headspace to perform some of them. No other art form do we expect the artist to reach backwards and give so much of themselves. We don’t expect painters to re-paint masterpieces, we don’t ask Stephen King to re-write “Carrie” and we don’t ask Robert DeNiro to reprise to roles of Travis Bickle or Jake LaMotta, but musicians, we expect them to deliver their old songs from the same headspace with which they wrote them. This is tricky, but Walker seemed to handle it all with ease. Performing three albums in their entirety takes more than just the physical effort, but a mental one as well and I’m not sure if the audience ever fully appreciates this. Butch Walker is a forward thinking artist always creating and evolving yet during the evening’s finale, “Stateline” (hidden bonus track) the performance was so fiery it brought the evening full circle as the confessionals immediately felt freeing. No one can prescribe a prescription for heartache and pain but hearing stories and relating to them makes us feel like we’re not alone. For many, this is the defining moment between wallowing in your past and moving forward. Letters may be a collection of songs to someone who stole your heart, but it’s also about taking those first steps forward into a new light. As we shall see in the evolution of Butch Walker in the last half decade, he moved forward and flourished.

Check back tomorrow for reports on show #2.

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

Photo Credit

The Screen Door's Best Films of the Decade (2000-2009)

The Best Films of the Decade (2000-2009)
By Anthony Kuzminski

Happy New Year. Just because we've started a new decade, I'm still working on a few pieces looking back at the previous one. For the long New Year's weekend, I'm giving you 100 rental suggestions as we look back on my what I deem the 100 Best Films of the Decade.
xT

The world’s most popular art form is the movie. No other medium can reach so many people on a worldwide basis year after year. I take so much away from films whether it be easing my mind for a few hours or teaching me a valuable life lesson. More times than not films stick with me, shelter me and comfort me. People continually complain about the lack of quality movies, however, as you can see by the list below, large numbers of first-rate films are released every year. To pull the list below together, I gathered all my year-end lists and wound up with around 450 films. It’s from this list I made the final 100 below. I haven’t seen all of the essential 2009 films so this year are being shortchanged a bit and I did cheat on a few of the entries below sometimes combining films when appropriate. In reality, I did it just to give a few other films a moment in the sun. Most people who read this blog aren’t fully aware of what a film fanatic I truly am but my love of film spurred my writing back in the 1990’s. Over time, music provided me better access so it took the lead in my writing, but my visits to the movie theater and my DVD collection have always not been far behind. On an average year I see approximately 100+ films in the theater and another 100+ at home. The first half of this decade, I believe I was averaging 150+ films a year in the theater alone.

Lists are incredibly difficult to come up with. Why one film made it higher on the list over another I cannot give a proper explanation. Does it matter? I guess it does when you put numbers to it. You could move around all of the films in my top twenty in any form and it would not really matter because they’re all extraordinary. Therefore, I ranked them in the order that they stayed with me, remained in my thoughts, made me want to call an old friend, forced me to reexamine my life, made me miss a lost love and simply stayed close to my heart weeks after viewing it. In picking the top films, I thought back on what the late Gene Siskel would do each and every year; he would pick the film, which he felt, showed the greatest joy and love of filmmaking and that was usually his number one movie. Looking back on this decade, I kept that in mind and created the list below. I don’t expect everyone to love each and every one of them, but maybe have an appreciation for them. I am grateful to those creative forces behind them who hope that the world will take their art to heart. I hope you each can find one film on the list below that shook your soul the same way it did mine.

Essential Links:
I don’t have the time to html direct links to all of the films, so when in doubt check out one of the following for more information on the films below.

The Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
Wikipedia
Netflix

Without further adieu...here's my list of the 100 Best Films of the last decade.

100. 10 Items or Less (2006)
Morgan Freeman is beyond charming in this little slice of life film that no one knows about. Playing a distant image of himself researching a role that lands him in a grocery store, the film made me smile and is incredibly charming in ways I never could have imagined.

99. Shaun of the Dead (2004)/Hot Fuzz (2007)
Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg made two side splitting comedies that are drenched in pop culture references. ‘Dead’ is an homage to zombie movies while ‘Fuzz’ stole from over eighty different action films about a pair of cops in a quaint British village. Repeat viewings are essential and besides the laughs, these films are fully engaging with notable characters and charming stories.

98. Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith (2005)
I have enjoyed all of Lucas’ ‘Star Wars’ prequels, but here if where he hit one out of the park. While all of them have been entertaining, this is the one where big questions were answered and the story becomes complete. I believe that all of the prequel films will be viewed in a much more positive light in the future, however, ‘Sith’ ranks up there with ‘A New Hope’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’.

97. No Country For Old Men (2007)
The Coen Brothers films often leave me with my head scratching and it’s only on the second or third viewing that I truly “get” the film. Despite this, ‘No Country’ delivers on every account and crawls under your skin. The anxiousness of all of the characters seeps into your mind, body and soul…and if it doesn’t then the final scene of the film is lost on you; a perfect crime thriller.

96. Together (2002)
I have always remembered this underrated and incredibly heartbreaking and poignant film from the director of ‘Farewell, My Concubine’. It's an unpretentious story of a father who makes extreme sacrifices for his son, a world-class violin player, by moving to Beijing so they can find the finest teachers for the child's talent. The back-story is not revealed until the end of the movie, but it's worth the wait as it proves this is more than just your ordinary “father knows best” film. Watching this film you witness firsthand the sacrifices people make for those they love.

95. Avatar (2009)
Not being a James Cameron fan, I couldn’t help but wish this film would bomb to check Cameron’s ego. That being said, this is an event movie that must be seen to be believed. The political and environmental undertones are subtle enough that you can swallow and the look of the film is astonishing. James Cameron can deliver big budget action fare better than anyone on the planet and there is a reason that despite sky high budgets, his films have always turned a significant profit. The twelve years between ‘Titanic’ and ‘Avatar’ may seem extreme, but one viewing of this film in 3D and you’ll understand why.

94. Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)
The film at its core is a comedy, but as it peels away its layers, it is much deeper than that. Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen wrote the screenplay from a play they had done off of Broadway. One woman is fed up with the dating scene and finds a woman with whom she has a genuine connection. The most poignant moment of the film involves Westfeldt (Jessica Stein) sitting on the porch of her house having a discussion in which her mother ( Tovah Feldshuh ) turns a basic conversation into a moment that is unforgettable and poignant. It's not a film about sex so much as it is about coming to terms with those we love and their flaws and accepting them. I found myself continuing to think about this film in the months after I saw it. It's sweet, melancholy and has more to do with human relationships than sexual preferences.

93. Casino Royale (2006)
The genre of action films will never get the credit they deserve, but this Bond film may take the cake as a definitive one. This was the film Pierce Brosnan wanted to make but they fought him for over a decade before he handed the keys over to his Aston Martin. Daniel Craig breathes life into the character and most importantly, the story of how James Bond became 007 is something I’m not sure if anyone thought they would ever see. Sadly one can only tell this story once so its unlikely future installments will be as good as this one.

92. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
People tend to love it or hate it. I lost myself in it completely. It didn’t appear too long or too short, but a film where as good as the special effects are, I feel it takes a back seat to the characters, their journeys and the underlying themes of the story. I’m a sucker for films where it leaves you with a message to not just dream big but to make sure you live life to the fullest because the clock never stops ticking. This one is no different.

91. The Notorious Betty Page (2005)
Gretchen Mol gives a career defining performance as the first superstar pin-up girl. The film looks deep into her psyche. Instead of some twisted sex tale, the film is more of an exploration of one’s soul and how she comes to reconcile her image. Mol was determined a “has been” by Hollywood before her career even took off and she owns this role and sadly, come award time, it was overlooked. She isn’t just playing Betty Page, she exudes her sexuality and her goody too shoes innocence at the same time.

90. Before Sunset (2004) / Return To Me (2000)
Richard Linklater may be the most effective filmmaker working today as he balances Hollywood films like ‘School of Rock’ with his independent films like this one and ‘Tape’. ‘Before Sunrise’ and its sequel, ‘Before Sunset’ are two of the great romances of the past quarter century. It’s all dialogue, but we inhabit these characters from the second the film starts until it ends. The sequel is a decade down the line with new issues and challenges in front of them in their now complicated lives. It’s rare in life you find someone you can connect so deeply with and talk about anything with. Films about these subjects are even rarer.

‘Return To Me” is the great romantic comedy of the decade. Directed by Bonnie Hunt and the lead performances by David Duchovny and Minnie Driver are marvelous. I always get pulled in by the genuine truth these characters yield on the screen. Filmed in Chicago, embracing the nooks and crannies of the city and a heartwarming story all add up to something more than standard romantic fare. If you haven’t seen this film, you’re in for a true treat.

89. The Bourne Trilogy (2002-2004-2007)
All three of Matt Damon’s spy thrillers are delicately driven films are all filled with complex action scenes and an engaging plots. Besides innovative direction and a smart script, it is Matt Damon who wins us over as he inhabits this character completely. In a film like this, casting is as important as the script. While watching the film, we are always aware that we are watching Jason Bourne, never do we think we’re watching Matt Damon.

88. Thank You For Smoking (2006)
A most wicked comedy. Aaron Eckhart is one of the finest actors of his generation and I can honestly say I will watch him in anything. Of all the Oscar snubs this year, this is the biggest, as his performance was electrifying as he delivered every line in this film with a crocodile smile. We know we can’t trust a word he says, but he wins you over nevertheless. Eckhart plays a brash and cocky representative for the tobacco industry who can spin almost anyone on his head. His performance alone almost guaranteed this film would be on my top-ten list. Credit must be given to writer/director Jason Reitman who balanced the tone for the film beautifully while spraying it with elements of witty and comedic dialogue.

87. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
A film about Jews killing Nazi’s with a subplot involving revenge at a movie premiere directed by Quentin Tarantino. Nuff said.

86. The Mist (2007)
One of the most awe inspiring horror films ever done. A complete throwback to the monster films of the 1950’s and 1960’s, director Frank Darabont (‘The Shawshank Redemption’) once again adapts Stephen King is a riveting film that will never leave your mind.

85. Juno (2007)
Too much has been written about this film by now but it’s so incredibly charming I dare someone not to love it. Another one of those films that makes you smile endlessly.

84. Kinsey (2004)
Liam Neeson delivers a tender, yet complex performance, of a man who changed American society simply by studying them. Liam Neeson brings great humanity to an intricate and faulted man, but one whose heart was sincere and one who forever changed American culture with his studies of sexuality. The film balances the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of love better than anything I have seen put on film.

83. X-Men 2(2003)/ Spider Man 2 (2004)
‘X-Men 2’ is the rare sequel that surpasses the original in almost every aspect. The original ‘X-Men’ looked like it was going to be a disaster from the lousy trailers to the recasting of an integral character (Wolverine) to a studio that would not fork over enough money to make the film more than one hundred minutes. However, director Bryan Singer (‘The Usual Suspects’) somehow made it work. With the second one, the cast was all back and the studio gave Singer whatever he wanted. What you have is a fully realized action masterpiece.

No film exceeded its predecessor like ‘Spider Man 2’. Sam Rami is a master storyteller. With this sequel he peeled off extra layers to the complexity of Peter Parker and those closest to him. While I enjoyed the original, the sequel will one day be looked upon in the same light as ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, as a sequel that almost eclipses the original from your memory.

82. The Fog of War (2003)
Errol Morris may be the greatest living documentary filmmaker alive today. Most people give all they have to give on one great documentary never reaching those heights again. Morris proves he can handle any subject and make it into a spellbinding documentary. Former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara, who served under JFK and LBJ, gives several history lessons, eleven of them to be exact, about how countries find themselves at war and what they should do in the future to stop themselves from going to war. The film also has archival phone conversations between McNamara and the presidents debating the war. These conversations are gripping and spine chilling because of the events that followed (most specifically the Vietnam War). In the time we are living, this is an eerie piece of art that one could only wish political leaders would watch.

81. Bloody Sunday (2002)
Paul Greengrass has made a film that for all intended purposes future generations may mistake for a documentary. Many people may not realize that they know this story, but anyone who has heard the U2 song of the same name knows what happened. In January 1972, British soldiers killed 13 passive civilians during a protest. The film is largely shot on hand held cameras to give the documentary-like feeling. I felt numb and dizzy after walking out of the theater seeing this film. A stunning and realistic film that portrays Ireland’s struggles in the late 20th Century better than any other film ever made.

80. Ponyo (2009)
Hayao Miyazaki’s films are entrancing on the eyes but it’s the endearing plots that pull us in. This simple story about a young boy who loves a goldfish princess will warm your heart while gripping your senses as well. Weaved with a moral tale yet a sense of wonderment, Miyazaki is one of the best storytellers and filmmakers on the planet.

79. Garden State (2004)
Who would have thought the star of the NBC sitcom ‘Scrubs’ would be able to write, direct and star in this wonderfully eccentric film of a late twenty-something looking for significance and purpose in his life? The film delivers uproarious and compassionate scenes along with performances that make you feel like you are experiencing it right there with them. Zach Braff’s direction is just right and he takes us on an inner journey through the swamps of New Jersey, while romanticizing it with its celebrated soundtrack. This film has so many superb qualities, not even a 5,000 word essay could do it justice. Look for this film to become a cult classic, ‘The Graduate’ of my generation.

78. Zodiac (2007)
David Fincher is a master storyteller, and this period piece mystery is downright haunting. More terrifying than any horror film released this past decade. The story about the real life Zodiac killer isn’t just chilling but it’s impossible to take your eyes off of it. If you haven’t seen it, seek out the Criterion Collection edition, the bonus features are as enthralling as the film.

77. The Lives of Others (2006)
The film is a spider-web of trickery and deceit, but ultimately one of renewal and reward. Like ‘Persepolis’, it is based on real life events and will leave an indelible impression.

76. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Have you ever been driving on an expressway only to slow down to watch the wreckage from an accident? This is what watching this movie is like. I remember the first time I saw it. I left the theater disturbed. I felt filthy. The second time I saw it (on a beautifully constructed DVD) I came to the realization that this may be one of the paramount documentaries of all time. What makes it so unbelievable is how it came to be. Andrew Jarecki was simply set to make a film about child entertainers. One of them, David Friedman, had a brother and father convicted of child molestation in the late 1980's. Even more mesmerizing was the family's decision to videotape their lives after the events of the accusations. I sat there in the theater thinking “What normal family would do this? Who would video tape their entire lives, the good and bad parts and then keep the tapes?” Forget reality television, this is the real thing. By interviewing people who worked on the case and showing these old home movies, Jarecki simply puts the audience in awe. Even if you feel uncomfortable watching this film, it is one of the most astonishing documentaries you will ever lay eyes on.

75. Swimming Pool (2003)

The next time you consider getting some weak Hollywood murder mystery at your local video store, put it down and rent this. An exhilarating thriller that slowly builds up to two unexpected twists while showcasing top-notch performances by Charlotte Rampling (playing a reticent writer) and Ludivine Sagnier (as the sexpot whom Rampling has a love-hate relationship). The build-up of the final act is pure Hitchcock. Even after the film ended, I found myself pondering it and being continually surprised.

74. Marie Antoinette (2006)
Sofia Coppola divided critics and audiences with her surrealistic tale of the 18th Century French Queen. She added a new wave soundtrack and took risks with the casting but I was deeply intrigued right from the opening scene. This film could have been a stuffy period piece, but instead Sofia Coppola breathed life into it and gave the period piece a new spin. While greatly underappreciated by most, this film will continue to find its audience in coming years and in the not too distant future will be studied in film schools for its inventiveness.

73. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
When I went to see this film, my wife turned to me and said “It’s a road trip movie, it has to be good!” She was dead on. You laugh, cry and feel deeply for each of these characters. Their lives may be turned upside down, but they bond together and find a way through with each other, with some hilarious high jinks along the way.

72. Into the Wild (2007)
When I saw Sean Penn would be directing this film about a loner and Eddie Vedder was doing the music, I thought this would be highly pretentious, but it’s not. The brushstrokes Penn utilizes while painting this film are stunning and the images of the film, along with the powerful soundtrack, perfectly fit the source material.

71. The Man From Elysian Fields (2002)
This is simply one of the decade’s most underrated films. It's a straightforward story of a struggling writer played by Andy Garcia who will do anything to support his family…even if it means becoming a male escort. Mick Jagger, whose performance should have been nominated for an Oscar, runs the head of the agency Garcia works for. What ensues over the next two hours in an enjoyable film, but what takes it to another level is the presence of Jagger. He is natural in his acting skills. Even though his screen time is limited, it is the most effortless acting of the decade with great essence and presence, which can be felt throughout the entire film, even when he is not on screen.

70. United 93 / World Trade Center (2006)
Two distinctly different films about the same day with Paul Greengrass taking the lead with the docudrama style in ‘United 93’. One is a shot like a docudrama and the other is a drama shot in a straightforward storytelling manner. Both are deeply profound and while some audiences are not ready for them today, they are important documents for future generations.

68. V For Vendetta (2006)
This film still resonates deeply within me. The futuristic action film is full of ideas of how to tear down a fascist British government. The answer is given to the people by a freedom fighter named “V”. I see plenty of action films and always find them enjoyable but this film is so much more. There is a profound sense of hope and determination from these characters. In the end, it is a story of the triumph of the human spirit while helping the Wachowski Brothers (who were producers and writers) gain ground after the dismal “Matrix” sequels.

67. Michael Clayton (2007)
Corporate greed, murder and the dilemma of being in the middle of it all proves to be a moral tale that isn’t flashy but haunts you for weeks after seeing it. The metaphorical imagery is awe-inspiring and a slew of tour de force performances.

66. Children of Men (2006)
A bleak, menacing look into the not too distant future in a world where women are barren and no one has given birth to a baby in eighteen-years. This dark noir stayed with me for weeks. The haunting and disturbing imagery made me think twice about how much we take for granted on this Earth. Could one imagine a world without children or no future? Director Alfonso Cuaron has made a film I believe will be viewed as the ‘Blade Runner’ of the 21st Century.

65. Crash (2004)
The issues of race in America are at the forefront of this brutally honest film. The multi-arc story is a vital and important one and is why it upset ‘Brokeback Mountain’ for film of the year. This is one of the most engaging and thought provoking stories seen in recent years.

64. Brokeback Mountain (2004)
I enjoyed the film however it’s one of unfulfilled hopes and dreams which makes it heartrending to watch. Ang Lee may be the best and most versatile director working today with credits such as ‘The Hulk’, ‘The Ice Storm’, ‘Sense & Sensibility’ and ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. At its core, ‘Brokeback Mountain’ is a compelling love story of two men who couldn’t come to terms with their feelings deep from within.

63. Sideways (2004)
Is this film overrated? No way, from the moment it ended right up until this very moment, these characters and their journey have stayed with me. Director/ writer Alexander Payne does not write in a black and white world, but one where real people deal with genuine issues. The metaphor of a great wine and how it affects your life is driven home beautifully in the film with breakout performances from Virginia Madsen and the always underrated Paul Giamatti. Madsen’s haunting eyes say so much in this performance that it will linger with you for weeks afterward.

62. About A Boy (2002)
A film defined as a romantic comedy but is more or less a movie about maturity and the insight that comes from it. I loved this film to pieces (based on Nick Hornby's book) about a bachelor for life who lives off of his inheritance and the relationship he forges with a 12-year-old boy. No, this is not a story based on Michael Jackson's life, but a cavernous relationship built out of admiration where Will (Hugh Grant) teaches as much as he learns from Marcus ( Nicholas Hoult). The film does not have a cookie cutter ending, but this only adds to the films charm.

61. Spirited Away (by Hayao Miyazaki) (2002)
An involving an inexplicable tale of a young girl who finds adventure and maturity with animated images are so authentic that when I saw it in a theater the younger children were timorous like the Hobbits upon first view of the Ents. This is a film for children 7 and up. The real motive behind the Japanese master of cinema, Hayao Miyazaki, making animated films is because his imagination is so immeasurable and spacious; he could not conceive live actions films that could physically be filmed with the technology available today. This is the man that all Disney animators point to as their muse. This film is the all time box office champion in Japan (yes, it sold more tickets and made more money than ‘Star Wars’,’ Harry Potter’ or ‘Titanic’ ); one of the decade’s most original and inventive stories.

60. City of God (2003)
Take ‘The Godfather’, ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Mean Streets’ and you have possibly the three greatest gangster films ever made. Take the best elements of these three films, change the setting to the slums of Rio de Janeiro and you have one of the most exhilarating and awe-inspiring film experiences in recent memory. There is no authority on these streets as gangs and drug dealers control the society. The film is narrated by “Rocket” who tell the story which covers three decades of turbulence, struggle and gangland wars which are terrifying for no other reason than because they are never ending the decadence begins at a young age where children are murdering others in the streets. There is nothing Hollywood about this brutally truthful and inspired piece of work. It's as real and truthful as any film ever made.

59. Shrek (2001)
How often do you have a film that you can watch with your child and possibly enjoy more than they do? ‘Shrek’ may be one of the most original characters ever to grace the screen. Everything about it is pitch-perfect. While its computer animation is wonderful, its brilliance lies in its script.

58. Vanilla Sky (2001)
While this film may not have the emotional impact of Cameron Crowe’s other films, (‘Say Anything’, ‘Almost Famous’) it does pack a punch to the soul. The film deals with the emotional impacts of casual sex and the consequences of its actions. Is there such a thing as “Friends with privileges”? Or is there always one person faking it when the lights go out? This is the best film ever made about that particular subject. A film of consequences, regrets and the impact that certain people can have on our lives in such a short period of time.

57. In Bruges (2008)
I’ve now seen this film three times and it never ceases to make me laugh. A brilliant script delivered with subtle direction and spot on performances by Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. Twisted and bitter humor at its best as two mob employees try and make the best of their time in the wonderfully eclectic and untouched Bruges. Beneath all of the quick quips, jaunty smiles and top-tier acting is a story about redemption that makes this more than your typical crime caper.

56. The Princess & The Warrior (2000)
Coming from the team that brought us ‘Run Lola Run’ is another thriller, of a different and longer kind. However, if ‘Lola’ was quick in your face film of non-stop action that last 80 minutes with credits, this is the polar opposite. A film that runs close to 2.5 hours and is slow moving, but in the best way. Even though this film had some major plot holes, the imagery, imagination and most importantly, the characters rise above any problems I had with the story arc. You will be whisked away to a dreamy world, in which true love, however bizarre, is possible.

55. Minority Report (2002)
The futuristic noir-thriller view was half ‘Blade Runner’ and half ‘Metropolis’ . It has all the goods of all of the other action films from the last twenty five years, but this film above all else has a human element. This film is visually striking and the type of film that Hitchcock would have made if he were alive today. Spielberg proves that Hollywood can make truly entertaining action films based around complex and original ideas. Steven Spielberg has always been a great filmmaker and somehow very few other directors working today can make truly engaging pieces of art and be so ingenious and innovative in the process. Despite his incredible success he continually pushes the envelope and dares the mass audience to come along for the ride.

54. Iron Man (2008)
This is one of those rare films where everything is perfect from the casting, directing, script and the subtle yet honest directing of Jon Favreau. It’s amazing how well comic films can come out if they stay true to the source material. Robert Downy Jr’s performance is fearless and shows what can happen when you take a chance. More importantly, one aspect that always makes a great film is character study and there’s no shortage of interesting characters in comics, it’s whether or not they choose to look beneath the surface to see what makes them tick or whether they create a film with as many explosions as possible. Fortunately for ‘Iron Man’, they have both.

53. Punch Drunk Love (2002)
There is nothing more depressing than a bewildered and secluded soul who walks through life by themselves without any cohort to disclose life's experiences with. Those who went into this film expecting to see an Adam Sandler film walked out disappointed. On the flipside...those who went in expecting to see a Paul Thomas Anderson film walked away on cloud nine. Sandler gives a bravura performance as a semi-lovable loser who finally discovers love with Emily Watson. This is not that different from his other performances. The difference this time is that he is not in the middle of some plot that involves him getting rich quick or inheriting a kid. There are side plots in this film involving extortion and a loop hole that involves Sandler's character (Barry Egan) to get over one million frequent flyer miles from purchasing pudding (yes, you read that correctly). I loved this idiosyncratic film because it so reminded me of how the outside world can be so callous, malicious and sadistic to insecure people. You then lose sight of your dreams, goals and ambitions because you feel no love or hope. Many found the actions of the characters in the film comical, when they should have been dismayed. I hope people are willing to give this movie another chance, as it is a film about finding a muse who can make you feel invincible.

52. High Fidelity (2000)
Rob Gordon, played with doe eyed sincerity by John Cusack, is the type of guy you would love to hang with but most likely not be in a long term relationship with. Based on Nick Hornby’s book about an obsessive record store owner and how the music defines his relationships, for better or worse. The characters in the film are lively and animated and yet brutally truthful. Cusack nails this role to the extent that no one believes he was acting in it, but it’s the films quieter moments where he ponders on past relationships that Cusack shows his worth as an actor. There is great helplessness in his eyes and his performance, making it unforgettable.

51. Superbad/Knocked Up (2007)
The two funniest films of 2007 and because it is my list and my rules, I am sharing the spot for them. Judd Apatow was behind both films and both brought tears to my eyes. All around hysterical laughter but heart as well. I have a feeling ‘Superbad ‘will be a classic and resonate longer, but if you need the release of laughter, look no further than these two.

50. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Maybe a little too obvious rather than mystical, but I found the story to be profoundly vibrant, especially the unexpected second half which is the emotional core of the film. The bi-polar swings of the characters and even the story left my jaw on the ground of the theater. Director Wes Anderson pushed himself with this film and while not as quirky as his previous efforts, it’s just an enchanting and his most enlightening to date.

49. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
Ang Lee’s romantically stunning and elegant film that shifts between never-seen-before action sequences and a genuine love story that is as impressive as it is majestic.

48. Erin Brockovich (2000)
Based on the real life story, director Steven Soderbergh delivered a film that has engaging characters and rolls by you in record time. Julia Roberts is brilliant in the lead role, but Albert Finney and Aaron Eckhart help balance the film and provide the Brockovich character a emotional center.

47. Moulin Rouge (2001)
After years of interesting choices by top name directors (Woody Allen, Kenneth Branagh) we finally were given a musical that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Unlike Branagh and Allen, instead of doing an old fashioned musical; Baz Luhrman recreated it by completing reinventing it. He updated it to modern standards with an array of pop songs and top-notch performers. I only wish the musicals that followed it were as daring and ostentatious.

46. Persepolis (2007)
This is a brisk, biting and animated film that permeates with heavy themes through the eyes of a young girl/woman. The film, done in the same style as the graphic novel, simultaneously shows the loneliness and confusion of growing up in hand with growing up in the 1980’s during the war between Iran and Iraq. It delicately balances the heavy themes with a light hearted feel that makes the film all that more digestible. This is among the most haunting of the last decade and will stay in your heart and mind forever.

45. Little Children (2006)
This film is a wildly involving emotional tale of two lost souls seeking solace and meaning in their lives who find it in the comfort of one another. Both are married and seeking a less complicated life away from their demanding and emotionally distant spouses. Director Todd Field (‘In The Bedroom’) carefully wrote and directed this film and while it’s not a fast moving film, it is completely engrossing. Kate Winslet is brilliant in the lead role, this is her most complicated and challenging role to date and yet she handles it with ease. Truly great acting is when it appears to be effortless. Another film that is full of astounding performances by Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly and Jackie Earle Haley.

44. Innocence (2001)
People would constantly ask me about this film and I would tell them it is maybe one of the best films to ever have been made about being in love. In fact, the only other film that demonstrates it as well is ‘Say Anything’ (Thanks for pointing that out George). Instead of having 2 young and good looking people in the lead, this film had two sixty something’s who have lived life and rediscover love and passion. A beautiful film about 2 people in their 60’s who reconnect after no having seen each over in over 45 years; a truly rare and beautiful film that everyone should see.

43. Better Luck Tomorrow (2003)
Every few years there is a young filmmaker who rocks the cinema world with proclamation of “Here I am!” In the early 90's Tarantino did it with ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’. In 1997 Paul Thomas Anderson did it with ‘Hard Eight’ and ‘Boogie Nights’. In 2003 Justin Lin did it with his film, ‘Better Luck Tomorrow’, about Asian teens and the stereotypes they play to their advantages to form a crime ring out of their high school. Not only is the story mesmerizing but also the look of the film is stunning. I never knew a film that cost merely $250,000 could look this good. Like Anderson's voyage through the world of porn, Lin takes the viewer through the hardships and trials of extraordinary young lives as they face simple challenges with great consequences. As great as the rise in power is documented, equally powerful is the fall from grace these teens exhibit. One can only imagine what Justin Lin will do when he is given a budget.

42. The 25th Hour (2002)
Spike Lee's masterpiece...a surreal and evocative day in post 9/11 New York. While I believe Spike Lee is an extraordinarily talented filmmaker, I consider many of his films are off base and ill conceived. Yet, each and every film of his has something in it that I fall in love with. He has taken all of his best qualities and crafted his masterpiece. People will look back twenty-five years from now and see this as an unheralded work of genius. Ed Norton delivers a truly amazing performance of a drug dealer who spends one last day with his friends and family and ponders the decisions he has made in his life. Along with Norton the cast is a tour de force with superb supporting performances by Brian Cox, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper and Rosario Dawson. The film ends on a subdued note with the haunting, but fitting, Bruce Springsteen track, “The Fuse” playing over the ending credits.

41. The Matador (2005)
I saw this film as an afterthought, what I did not expect was for it to be one of the ten best films of the year let alone one of the decade’s best. Pierce Brosnan is a hit man who crosses paths with Greg Kinnear, a salesman, in Mexico. What no one has realized is that this film is the perfect blend of action, comedy and plot to make this probably the most engaging and entertaining film of the year. Brosnan’s performance is genius as he teeters on the line of hot-shot killer and manic psycho. Surprisingly, this film is one of the decades funniest as well.

40. Traffic (2000)
Steven Soderbergh directed thirteen films this decade, but ‘Traffic’ was his tour de force. Making a political statement about drug trafficking and the laws we have in place, he gently guides the story through a series of interconnecting characters and stories. In the hands of a lesser director, this could have gone horribly awry, but instead it impressive and sprawling in every way.

39. Twilight Samurai (2004)
This is 2004’s greatest love story of a widow samurai (Hiroyuki Sanada) in the 19th Century who struggles with everyday life as he tries to raise his family. He is an honorable man thrown into turbulent situations. The fight scenes in the film are intense, not for their over the top choreography, but for the truthfulness behind how each fight is fought. If Akira Kurosawa were alive he was be envious of this film, it’s every bit as compelling as any of Kurosawa’s samurai films. Brewing beneath the surface is a secret love that slowly inches into the samurai’s life and heart and influences it in ways he never thought imaginable. The end of the film is so profoundly moving that it had my girlfriend near tears. Sometimes love can conquer all.

38. Kill Bill: Volume One & Two (2003-2004)
An homage to martial art films, oodles of blood, Uma and that razor-sharp Tarantino dialogue proves that six years between movies was worth the wait. No one could pull off a film like this except Tarantino. Only someone who can merge his countless influences into a blender and make it his own could make a film like this work. This may have ranked higher if it was released in its full 3-hour version and not two parts. David Carradine gives the performance of a lifetime in this underrated masterpiece.

37. The Wrestler (2008)
Poetically brutal, brilliant and beautiful is how I would sum up ‘The Wrestler’. What may appear to be an all too familiar story on paper, it’s anything but. Full of vivid and characters so real that it almost makes it difficult for the viewer to watch. Mickey Rourke’s performance is thunderous and stays with you long after the film is over. This is a man who if he could do life over, he would. However, would the end result be any different? This is a human so broken and beaten that the only place he feels alive in inside the wrestling ring. He reaches out for something to hold on to, but is it too late? Marissa Tomei (delivering her third harrowing performance of the decade) is revealing and her eyes speak volumes. When the film fades to black and the film’s coda, sung by Bruce Springsteen, leaves you shaken from a world we all know far too well.

36. Gangs of New York (2002)
Martin Scorsese took a chance when he decided to create a film about the tribal warfare among the immigrants during the late Nineteenth Century in New York. Nobody tells New York stories better than Scorsese. Like Springsteen who uses New Jersey ideals and lifestyles to encompass his music, Scorsese's muse is New York. The film is more than just a history of New York, it's a reflection of ideals that helped shape, form and continue to be issues today in America. Politicians and dangerous gangs fight over control of the corners and Burroughs of New York. What is most stunning is that while the event in this film took place well over one hundred and twenty years ago, many of these same issues still haunt the American landscape today. Daniel Day Lewis steals the movie with his over-the-top portrayal of “Bill the Butcher”, one of the truly evil characters to ever grace us with their presence on the screen. From the opening battle scene of the natives and immigrants fighting to the final image of the pre-9/11 New York City skyline with U2's “The Hands That Built America” playing over it, this film is a feast on the eyes and mind.

35. Read My Lips (2002)
Every critic each year has one movie on their list that no one has ever heard of. ‘Read My Lips’ is my movie. The film revolves around Carla, who is an office worker who is death, but can read lips. Due to the stress involved with her work, she hires a male assistant, who has a criminal past. Slowly a story evolves involving Carla, the former convict and his past. All of these circumstances come into play as the story unravels in front of us. Before we know it, a risky chain of events unfold in which the success of them depends on Carla's ability to read lips. Few films held my attention as well as this one did. Yes, it has subtitles, but you don't even realize it half of the time because of the actions that take place. It's one of the best noir thrillers I have ever seen and Hollywood should buy the rights to this movie and re-make like they did with Insomnia .

34. The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005)
No film made me laugh more than this one. Steve Carell is the shining star in Judd Apatow’s hysterical comedy about a 40-year old loner whose friends continually try to hook him up. But the film has so many layers and laughs, you need multiple viewings to fully appreciate it.

33. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
This film took me by complete surprise. I’m not quite sure I have ever seen another film quite like this before. It is set around the fascist Spanish of 1944, but with an element of the mystical thrown in based around a young girls mystical adventures. Either film on itself would have been a great film but the fact that director Guillermo del Torro was able to blend these two stories seamlessly is an accomplishment upon itself. The thought and imagination that went into this film is extraordinary, eerie and romantic. This film will be a classic in years to come.

32. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Every person living on God’s green Earth should see this film. Is it easy to watch? No. However, it is easily the year’s most important and profound film. Like Spielberg’s ‘Schindler’s List’, this film documents the truly horrific events that occurred in Rwanda in 1994. Don Cheadle’s performance is the best by any actor on celluloid in 2004. There is a moment in the third act where he simply breaks down and does not utter a word. Nothing needed to be uttered as his face and body have already told us everything.

31. There Will Be Blood (2007)
“I drink your milkshake!” While I enjoyed this film, Paul Thomas Anderson’s period piece about a profoundly complicated oil man becomes more sprawling with each viewing. Daniel Day Lewis gives a performance for the ages of a man driven but who also manipulates his way into people’s live for his own personal gain, but in the end, no matter what he does, he is so entrancing on the screen, you can’t help but be disappointed when the film ends, because you wish there was more to revel in.

30. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
One of the decade’s most disturbing films that came from two brains (Spielberg and Kubrick) that pushed the boundaries of how we treat our children in society. Are they mere machines or toys that adults produce just for our enjoyment or loneliness? I think the reason for such extreme reactions to the films how comfortable one are with the actual message of the film: that we are already living in this society.

29. Syriana (2005)
Most people who may see this film will walk away confused. That’s OK, because writer/director Steve Gaghan’s film is so intricate and complex, you will not pick up everything you need to know in one viewing, which is why this film is damn brilliant. It puts the state of world politics upfront and I can’t think of another film in recent memory that made me think more. You see how deals are made, plans are carried out and how those who want to change things are handled.

28. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
It’s every bit as good as you have heard it is. A rare film that delivers not just intriguing characters, visually lush landscapes and a story that delivers on every level. It’s filled with heartache, disappointment, struggle and ultimately hope. The film’s ending stays true to itself and is by no means a sell-out. It’s the rare film where you’ll gleam with glee as you leave the theater wanting to experience it again, just to recapture the feelings that come over you when watching it. This is the type of film that renews your faith in the world where good things can happen to good people. Determination, love and faith will win out in the end.

27. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
Trust me on this one…I guarantee you that once you pop this in the DVD player, you’ll be transfixed and the second the film is over, you’ll want to watch all of the extra scenes and materials because you’ll want to know more and spend more time with these two men vying for the Donkey Kong World Record. This film is so engaging it’s just like a video game where you throw in another quarter to watch it again.

26. WALL-E (2008)
This isn’t just one of the best animated films of all time, but one of the best films of the decade. Pixar’s brilliance is in the fact they take the simplest idea and turns it into a brilliant film(s). ‘WALL-E ‘is a film that everyone of every age can take from it. It’s rare that a piece of art can have such a wide appeal across so many demographics. This is a wonderful story weaved with a moral tale that isn’t just relevant but one that is equally terrifying. It makes you think twice about the world we live in and how we take it for granted. More importantly, the abuse we instill upon ourselves and our bodies in many ways is equally terrifying.

25. Waking Life (2001)
Not just a great technological breakthrough but also a film that is incredibly thought provoking. In the wake of 9/11, this film brings up numerous questions and concerns that we have as human beings. Where we belong? Where do I fit in? What will become of me? It also shows younger filmmakers a way to make constructive and creative films cheap. A film for the philosopher’s of the world.

24. Elizabethtown (2005)
Cameron Crowe’s breathtaking film about self examination and family received lukewarm responses when released in 2005. I haven’t a clue why as it’s a touching and truthful film about what it’s like to be in your 20’s when you’re not sure what your next step in life should be. We all too often find ourselves working so hard that we overlook the important things in life. Crowe’s film cuts to the core of what it feels like to be lost and disillusioned with a soundtrack that is as important to the story as the script or any of the actors. I saw this film when I really needed it and when I watched it again; it comforted me as much as the initial viewing. Years from now people will go back and look at this film and realize it was unfairly criticized upon its initial release.

23. The Visitor (2008)
Every year there is one film that changes my life, for 2008, it was ‘The Visitor’, a small film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy who had also directed ‘The Station Agent’, one of the decade’s best. He has a way of instilling a sense of familiarity to his characters. The greatest compliment I can ever give his films is that they are never long enough. I always walking away wishing I had more time with his characters. Richard Jenkins (best known as the dead father from ‘Six Feet Under’) is a widower who is sleep walking through life until a series of events, people and circumstances change his course. He comes to realize what’s important in life. He comes alive through a friendship where he discovers a love for music. Just when you think the film is going to take you one way, it twists and turns and points you in a different direction, just like life. If there is one film you see this year on this list, this is it.

22. The Aviator (2004)
Martin Scorsese’s epic masterpiece, filmed in the vein of “Citizen Kane”, may not have the expressive punch of ‘Raging Bull’ or ‘Taxi Driver’ but it’s still tour de force filmmaking demonstrating the fragility of the human condition and how all of the money in the world cannot overcome inner obstacles. Leonardo DiCaprio gives the performance of a lifetime playing the eccentric Howard Hughes, a powerful man whose rise to the top is as famous as his fall from grace. Cate Blanchett also delivers a dead on impersonation of Katherine Hepburn in a film in which every frame is perfect; from the story to the acting to the masterful direction of our greatest living director, Martin Scorsese.

21. Adaptation (2002)

We are what we love, not what loves us -Donald Kaufmann

One of the most absorbing films I have ever seen with a script unlike any other. Nicolas Cage takes on a double role playing two brothers, Donald and Charlie Kaufman, who are both writers. Donald is laid back and wants to write a by the numbers action thriller. Charlie is the man behind ‘Being John Malkovich’ and is adapting the best seller ‘The Orchid Thief’ . One problem: A film on orchids is mind-numbing. He cannot adapt the book and his confusion falls over into his real life, which he winds up adding to the story. Somehow, the author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) and the man she wrote about, John Laroche (Chris Cooper), all become involved in the movie with Charlie tracking them down. The movie is a film within a film. Confused? Well, when you see it you won't be. I don't want to give too much away to those who have not seen it and others who have seen it, know exactly what I'm writing about. The screenplay is a combination of the two brothers so you get a serious film, with a big action scene, which I won't reveal. I can ensure that many people might be turned off by the finale of the third act, but there is where the irony is at its best. I was sitting up in my seat when the film finished, I was smiling and I could feel that happiness move throughout my body as I walked to my car, drove home and wrote four paragraphs on the film before I went to bed that night. You may not grab everything on one viewing, so make sure you see it twice. It's a heartfelt film about love, passion, writing and most importantly life and how art and inspiration can help us embrace it. The hybrid of these two writers (Donald and Charlie) comes together in this brilliant, truthful, loving and mesmerizing film.

20. Amelie (2001)
Everyone who saw this film at film festivals would tell me to rush out and see it. I waited and waited until one day I gave in and found myself completely enchanted by its freshness, charm and sincerity. Amelie is a French girl who wonders what would happen if she meddles in people’s lives for good reasons, whether it be for love, rediscovery of childhood joy or just learning to love life. This is definitely one of the most charming films I have ever seen.

19. Once (2007)
This film made me smile for close to two hours. This is a wonderfully warm and endearing film of two musicians who first find a common connection through music and later through each other. Music opens doors and worlds to us and what this wonderfully independent film showcases is how provocative it can be and the connections we make through the music

18. Anvil: The Story of Anvil (2009) (Read full review here)
I’ve always been a junkie for documentary films, but I’m especially partial to ones involving music. Seeing a filmmaker dissect and let us into the world of talented musicians reveals much about their personalities and their art. However, the definition of a music documentary has been shattered this past year with the release of’ Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ an epic look inside a highly influential Canadian metal band whose has endured more struggle than success. In a day and age of extreme pessimism, this is a film is a reminder that anything is possible. However, instead of placing your hopes and dreams in some fictional world of make believe, Lips, Robb and Anvil are very real and ultimately, it is what makes the film so remarkable because it reinforces the hope.

17. The Station Agent (2003)
This is a wonderfully quirky film with some of the richest characters to ever appear on celluloid. The story does not matter because the characters of this film are so rich and deep that I was disappointed when the movie was over. I felt like I was leaving the party too early. It's a simple film of a dwarf (Peter Dinklage) who loves trains and inherits property next to a station in a small New Jersey town. Here he reluctantly befriends hot dog stand owner Joe (Bobby Cannavale) and an emotionally distant Olivia (Patricia Clarkson). It's a simple story in which we get to see all of the characters show wearing different emotions on their sleeves. Every frame of this movie is genuine. The emotion is so real that you feel like you are sitting there right next to them while they discuss their lives. These three main characters are so distinctive that I could watch them do almost anything and it would be compelling.

16. Wonder Boys (2000)
Michael Douglas delivers one of the best performances as a college professor who wrote one brilliant novel and has been unable to follow it up ever since. Curtis Hanson’s direction is delicate and as is the pacing, the characters and the sharp script. Full of rich supporting performances (Katie Holmes, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr) and a story that was continually unfolding, I lost myself in this film, numerous times. Faced with a few game changing situation, Douglas’ character (Grady Tripp) has to make some tough life altering decisions. But ultimately, by choosing an alternate path, he finally lives.

15. Before The Devil Knows Your Dead (2008)
This film can be summed up in two words; pure perfection. Every scene and moment in this Sidney Lumet directed film is beyond luminous with career defining performances from Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marissa Tomei. Albert Finney is a tour de force in this thriller that is more about karma than about bad luck; a top to bottom masterpiece about a crime gone terribly wrong.

14. Up (2009)
If your eyes don’t well up in the opening fifteen minute prelude to this film, you have no soul. Only in a Pixar film could a senior citizen be the hero of the film that involves adventure, life lessons and love. There’s a reason Pixar has had ten huge hits in a row. Beneath the eye popping animation are stories with soul and ‘Up’ is one of their best.

13. Brick (2006)
The biggest surprise of 2006, a highly intellectual film based around a high school murder is so much more than meets the eye. The rich dialogue in this film owes a debt of gratitude to Quentin Tarantino and David Mamet, but surprisingly, instead of attempting to sound like those two, the characters have their own distinctive voice. The world and characters he created was one I didn’t want to leave. While the drama is elevated, in truth, is that high school is dramatic and challenging and this is what makes this world so fascinating. Rian Johnson is a director to watch in the future.

12. Munich (2005)
Steven Spielberg’s last few films left me without strong feelings towards them one way or the other “(“War of the Worlds” and “The Terminal”)…this film moved me profoundly. It’s a difficult subject matter as it showcases the search of those in charge of the approving the murders of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. Spielberg’s film showcases the moral struggles of those with the given task to track down the men behind the murders of the eleven athletes. Where does their loyalty lie; with their families or their country? Spielberg accurately showcases both sides of the story with grace and even though this film has not lit up the box office, it too will be viewed in a better light as time goes on.

11. In America (2003)
The most emotionally exhausting film I saw in 2003 in which we follow a young Irish immigrant family's struggle to get through daily life as foreigners in New York City. However, overshadowing the entire story is the death of a child. Jim Sheridan made the picture perfect home movie by writing the screenplay with his two daughters. The real life sisters (Sarah and Emma Bolger) take the film to another level, as their performances are where the heart and soul of the movie lie. In a supporting role, Djimon Honsou rightfully received an Oscar nomination, which he should have received six years ago for ‘Amistad’. The oldest daughter narrates the film and speaks of how, before her brother died, he gave her three wishes to use in her time of need. The third wish hit me so hard that it brought tears to my eyes. The final ten minutes allow you, along with the main characters, to release all of the built up emotion you have carried with you throughout the film.

10. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The greatest compliment I can ever give a movie is that I smiled from beginning to end. Just a wonderful set of eccentric characters placed into an almost dream world by writer’s Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. Yet, the film is also bittersweet and heart breaking in the way it shows the connections between parent and child and family and forgiveness. It also gives great meaning to the phrase “You can't make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved; the rest is up to the person to realize your worth.” Gene Hackman’s character learns this in the film, in what may be one of Hackman’s greatest performances since ‘The Conversation’. Nobody demonstrates quirkiness; comedy and charm better than Wes Anderson does.

9. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
2004’s best documentary is also its paramount film. No other film in recent memory better exhibits the human condition better than Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s (the directors behind ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Brother’s Keeper’) document of the metal band Metallica falling apart over a two-and-a-half year period, while recording the album ‘St. Anger”. The struggle of a band coming to terms with each other, and their inner demons, was the ultimate fly on the wall experience. It also showcases a hero who comes out of darkness into the light and completely transforming himself in the process. Movies make us want to believe that people can change, when in reality, they don’t. We always root for the character that has fallen from grace hoping they can pick the pieces back up and start again. This is a fascinating study of a band coming to terms with each other as friends and collaborators. What occurs in this film is one of the most profound and beautiful things one can ever witness; the resurrection and rebirth of a human who was lost but now is found. Therein lays the beauty and magic of this film. Metallica has yet to break even on the money they put into this film, however, none of that should matter as they have a document that will last for generations of people to watch, make them look inward and hopefully make them better people. No other film, in the last decade, has made me reevaluate my life more as this one did.

8. The Departed (2006)
Let’s clear something up right from the get go, Martin Scorsese is always in top form. The last film he made in which he was lacking focus was 1977’s ‘New York, New York’. Every film he has touched since then has been first-rate whether it has been deeply personal (‘Raging Bull’), small budget (‘After Hours’), epic (‘Gangs of New York’) or just flat out sprawling (‘Casino’). ‘The Departed’ is no different as he delves into the pulverizing underworld of the Boston mob. Sure this is territory he has explored before but when a player hits his 500th home run does it mean it’s any less important than their first? Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg all give Oscar worthy performances in what truly is a first rate crime thriller based deeply on internal conflict. The complex characters, engaging script and riveting direction make ‘The Departed’ an example of a Hollywood mainstream film at its best.

7. The Prestige (2006)
Chris Nolan’s tale of two magicians flat out wrapped itself around me. “The Illusionist” was a very good film but at its core was a love story, whereas the stakes are infinitely higher in ‘The Prestige’. Every frame of this film is essential to the story they act like building blocks and if one is removed the whole tower falls. However, one does not fully realize this until the final scene of the film. This is a magical (excuse the pun) tale that twisted my mind more than any other film has since ‘Memento’. Nolan’s direction is subtle but speedy and the magnificent splendid script (done with his brother Jonathan) should have been nominated for an Oscar. The acting across the board is exceptional and each and every scene binds the overall scope of this picture together. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and the ghostly David Bowie give extraordinary performances in this masterpiece. For some unknown reason, many critics overlooked this film when compiling their year-end lists. All I can say is that the second it was over I wanted to see it again.

6. Lost In Translation (2003)
This film sent chills up and down my spine. Sophia Coppola's tale of two lost souls in a foreign land is a thought provoking one which I’ve revisited time and time again. I love each and every inch of this film. Bill Murray gives one of his best performances as a B-list actor in Japan to shoot a commercial. He is comical, charismatic, conflicted and reserved. There is so much he says with his eyes, always a sign of a truly great performance. He has money but not happiness. Scarlett Johansson is equally adrift and her performance ranges from contentment to seclusion to disillusionment to a smile and tears at the end. People so often obey the code of silence when in relationships, yet when these two strangers find each other in a strange land, they are able to shatter that silence through laughter, honesty and even karaoke. They open up to each other with such crystal clear honesty and tenderness, it is impossible not to fall in love with these characters. They admire each other and never do they lead the other on. There is a great scene where Johansson asks Murray if married life gets any easier as time goes on and he simply says "No", but along with the downside he tells her about the highs one can get from other things in life like children. Sofia Coppola gets definitive retribution against those who vilified her for her role in ‘Godfather III’. While she may have been hesitant in that film, as a director and writer she is confident and willing to push the envelope through her words and in her ingenious direction. I have seen this film three times and each time, the final scene gives me goose bumps. I was talking about this dialogue free scene with someone and goose bumps appeared all up and down my arm. There is something so incredibly authentic and unique about this astonishing film. It's a film for those who feel lost and can't find their way home. Somehow, these two characters find their way through their week of bonding. There is no lust here, just pure veneration and love. Through each other, they are able to take a step back and see themselves for who they are and they see the cracks in the sidewalk they need to repair in their lives.

5. Millions (2005)
Danny Boyle made his mark almost a decade ago with ‘Trainspotting’. Ever since then I’ve admired his films more than I loved them. Regardless of what I felt about them, I always loved the style with which he would paint his canvas. With ‘Millions’ he found middle ground mixing his manic style with an incredibly sweet and surreal story. Two brothers in England have recently lost their mother. Their father moves them to a new neighborhood and the youngest, Damien (played brilliantly by Alex Etel), is fascinated by the lives and deaths of the Saints, so much so they guide him through life. Add on a lost baggage of money and you have the plot point that drives the story. When I saw this movie last spring, it had me in near tears as the story is essentially one of faith. Through the good times, the bad ones and the times where we are searching, it is faith that will pull you through. If you don’t like this film, I’ll refund your money, that’s how strong I feel about it.

4. Batman Begins (2005)/ The Dark Knight (2008)
I can’t separate these two films no matter how hard I try. I view them as extensions of one another the same way ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Godfather’ films were. I was awestruck at ‘Batman Begins’ in 2005. I love genesis stories and the way director Christopher Nolan and writer David Goyer guided the caped crusader was dark, surreal and revitalizing. It’s better than ‘Spiderman’, ‘X-Men’ or any of Burton’s ‘Batman’ films. After the dreadful ‘Batman & Robin’, the franchise went into hibernation for eight years and a reboot need to be a masterstroke in order for it to work. The direction, pacing, script and top notch casting made this film the greatest comic to ever grace the silver screen. ‘The Dark Knight’ followed three years later, a true noir masterpiece that evolves beyond a simple comic book film. Let’s leave the fact that Heath Ledger passed before the film premiered to the side. Chris Nolan is one of the best directors working today and he created a world so intriguing and potent, it’s impossible to not let it overtake you. For my money, this film and Batman Begins are the pinnacle of comic book films.

3. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)
Peter Jackson did the near impossible, being a 40+ year old book to the screen with very little backlash. While the special effects are mesmerizing, all three films are enhanced by the presence of the great Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf. Peter Jackson has made a masterpiece that will not only stand the test of time, but will be cherished by film lovers forever. He has taken the unfeasible job of constructing these three books onto film and made a magnum opus that will be viewed for all time. The elation of the filmmaking involved with the process is evident and yet effortless at the same time in what many consider the finest trilogy ever constructed. It also has done something that no other big budget film has been able to do: master CGI. None of the special effects look like they are computer generated. You watch all three of these films in awe of their sheer beauty. However, what takes these films to another level is the incredible humanity and heart behind the story. We live and love these characters. At the end of this film you are exhausted, relieved and heartbroken that your journey with these characters has ended. Sean Astin, as Sam, gives the performance of a lifetime as he carries his friend through the depths of hell. These films have it all: great directing, pacing and storytelling in the best fantasy epic since ‘Star Wars’.

2. Memento (2001)
2001 was the year of the non-linear film. ‘Mulholland Drive’ and ‘Vanilla Sky’ took us on journeys at the cinema and more importantly, that journey did not end when the lights went on in the Movie Theater. It followed us home and haunted us for weeks as we put pieces of the puzzle together. It is rare to have a film that is so completely original that it stands above all the other “puzzle” films that came out this year. Chris Nolan made a film that will be studied for decades to come. A film so brilliant, that a dozen screenings of it will not do it justice. Guy Pearce plays a man whose suffering from short-term memory loss tries to uncover who murdered his wife. But the film’s masterstroke is the method in which the story is told; backwards. You might not understand the film in your initial listen, but no other film spun the concept of filmmaking and storytelling on its head like this one.

1. Almost Famous (2000)
This seems like a no-brainer, but I purposely tried to choose a different film for the top position but ultimately couldn’t justify choosing anything other than Cameron Crowe’s autobiographical film about music, journalism and adventure and ultimately…family. Following the success of the Oscar winning ‘Jerry Maguire’, Crowe wasn’t sure what his next film would be when Lawrence Kasdan encouraged him to do ‘Almost Famous’, something Crowe had been talking about for years but was scared to do, because when someone writes something so revealing and personal, it opens criticisms from the real world. Dreamworks bought the film and Steven Spielberg told him “Film every page”. Crowe pulls no punches, showing the loneliness and awkwardness he experienced as child and the drama within his internal family. His mother, played to perfection by Frances McDormand, is the linchpin that holds the film together. As the film’s lead character William Miller (played with wide eyed innocence by Patrick Fugit) leaves his high school to follow a band on tour for Rolling Stone magazine, Crowe puts the viewer in Miller’s seat and as a result, it’s a tour de force roller coaster ride not just through the winding wheels and roads of rock n’ roll but life as well. The road seems to be glamorous and glorious, but when one gets up close, they see a world full of scars hidden by make-up and distorted guitar chords. Beneath the passionate love one may have for something, you have to open your eyes to the flaws and choose to accept them or run away from them. The characters are powerfully real and full of life that even the director’s cut (titled ‘Untitled’ which runs forty-minutes longer) isn’t enough. You get lost in this world and wish you didn’t have to leave because for a few short hours, Cameron Crowe made us all feel “cool” You don’t have to love rock n’ roll to love this film, you just have to be open enough to acknowledge love.


Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.