Roger Ebert's Top Ten Films of the Decade

Roger Ebert wastes no time telling you about his pick for the greatest movie of the past ten years. Synecdoche, New York is the best film of the decade, Ebert says matter-of-factly. "It intends no less than to evoke the strategies we use to live our lives." Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut from 2008 is a bold choice, although I think quite a few critics have at least considered it for a place on their top ten.

The rest of Ebert's list is no less unexpected. Perhaps only two of the films - Almost Famous and The Hurt Locker - have been thrown into other best-of-the-decade lists that I've seen, and even as great as The Hurt Locker is, that pick may only seem justifiable a few years from now, after Kathryn Bigelow's film has a chance to live in our memories a while. In addition to his top ten, which get a considerable amount of his attention, Ebert lists ten other movies from the past decade that deserve special recognition, and some of those even seem to come out of the blue. "In choosing the list," he writes, "I decided to bypass films that may have qualified for their historical, artistic, popular or 'objective' importance. No lists have deep significance, but even less lists composed to satisfy an imaginary jury of fellow critics." "My jury resides within. I know how I feel."

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'Rachel,' 'Frozen River,' 'Ballast' Lead Race for Independent Spirit Awards

The Independent Spirit Awards announced its list of 2008 nominees, and at the top of the heap stands Rachel Getting Married, Frozen River, and Ballast, all with six nominations.

Rachel is, of course, anchored by Anne Hathaway, who is a likely Best Actress nominee for the Academy Awards. The same could be said of Frozen River's Melissa Leo, quickly becoming the trendy pick nobody had ever heard of until a few weeks ago. And Ballast is a drama about the way one suicide affects the lives of others. Other multiple nominees include Milk, The Wrestler, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Synecdoche, New York, with four nominations each (although Synecdoche really only received three nominations and was awarded a fourth, the Robert Altman Award, given to the ensemble, casting director, and the director).The Independent Spirit Awards will air live on IFC Saturday, February 21st. For a complete list of nominees, check out Variety. But here are some of the major players:

Best Feature
Ballast
Frozen River
Rachel Getting Married
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler

Best Director
Ramin Bahrani - Chop Shop
Jonathan Demme - Rachel Getting Married
Lance Hammer - Ballast
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Thomas McCarthy - The Visitor Best First Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Lance Hammer - Ballast
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Jonathan Levine - The Wackness
Jenny Lumet - Rachel Getting Married Best Screenplay
Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck - Sugar
Charlie Kaufman - Synecdoche - New York
Howard A. Rodman - Savage Grace
Christopher Zalla - Sangre de Mi Sangre

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Movie Review - 'Synecdoche, New York'

Synecdoche, New York Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, and Michelle Williams Directed by Charlie Kaufman Rated R

The problem with Synecdoche, New York is that it has very little direct about it or direction within it. The irony is that it's a film about a director.Many of us have long admired Charlie Kaufman's writing; his scripts for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are among the best and most original in the past quarter century or more. All three have been given Academy Award nominations, and Eternal Sunshine won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar a few years ago.But now he's directing, and as far as that goes, he probably should have chosen a project with a little more to grab onto.Synecdoche is a play on words of the New York town of Schenectady, referenced at the beginning of the film. It's a real word, though, and it means using part of a thing to describe the whole of that thing. In recent political parlance, think Joe the Plumber. He's a synecdoche of disaffected working class voters. It could also be the opposite, where something larger than what is being described is used to describe it. Or it could be substituting the general for the specific or substituting the specific for the general. For example, I call soft drinks "Coke" because it conveys the same thing.It's an even more confounding title than Quantum of Solace, isn't it? It actually does make sense within the framework of the story, but that's sure a long way to go to get there.And anyway, confusing people doesn't make for a great movie, even if you're David Lynch. That's really what undoes this film, because there's so little connective tissue between what Kaufman wants to tell us and what I think we see. He's concerned with a theatrical director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who wants to do something glorious with the MacArthur Grant he's just received. He wants to write a play that is brutal and honest, although the production he eventually mounts is more the mirrored reflection of honesty than it is the real thing.

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Trailer - Charlie Kaufman's 'Synecdoche, New York'

What the hell did I just watch? Wow...even by Charlie Kaufman standards, this trailer for Synecdoche, New York is truly out there. Kaufman, if you don't know is the most inventive screenwriter in Hollywood, with Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to his credit. Synecdoche is his first film as a director, and it doesn't look like something anybody else could've made, save for an on-the-march Terry Gilliam. The cast is exceptional - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hope Davis, Dianne Wiest, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, and Michelle Williams, among others. But, man, is this strange. Strange can be a good thing, of course, but...yeah. Synecdoche, New York opens in limited release on October 24th.

New Poster and Clips from Charlie Kaufman's 'Synecdoche, New York'

When Charlie Kaufman turns in a new script, it's an event. Arguably the most original and important screenwriter of the last 20 years, Kaufman has redirected movie writing with Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Adaptation. So imagine the peeks over the fence when Kaufman not only had a new script but was going to direct for the first time.

His feature debut, Synecdoche, New York, debuted to a mostly puzzled crowd at Cannes. Granted, there's no easy way into a Kaufman story, and yet there's a certain beauty, elegance, and efficiency in the way he writes such unbelievable convoluted stories. About the easiest way to summarize what I think I know of Synecdoche is that a theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is mounting a play about New York, hoping to bring to the stage as much real life as he can, even the most mundane aspects. He builds a giant model of New York in a warehouse, where the play begins to unfold and take on a life of its own. Meanwhile, his real life, including relationships with his ex-wife (Catherine Keener) and his current wife (Michelle Williams) start to fall completely apart. There's a new post-Cannes poster for Synecdoche, New York, courtesy of Worst Previews, which says to me something along the lines of "no matter how much you try to plan real life, you can't." That, or "Phil Hoffman has way too much time on his hands. And a lot of index cards."

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